[OT-NHL] The Annual NHL Playoffs Thread: 2003

[Agamon]

With the exception of the Devils, all the lower seeded teams won the first game. That's wack. What happened to my Avs and my Sens? And the 6 Wings I took in the pool? And why didn't my Habs squeek in and reap the benefits again this season?

Ah, well. Experience tells me there'll be one or two upsets, the other favorites will overcome this opening loss.

 

[Welverin]

Don't worry Billy it's only the first game. At least that's what I keep telling myself too.

Aren't you sick of doing that? I know I am, along with "They didn't play that bad, if in the next game..."

I'm with Agamon, what's with all the lower seeds winning, other than Boston?

 

[MulhorandSage]

I suspect that the reason the higher seeds have faltered is because of the tightness of the division races - tonight was a bit of a letdown after they'd been through the grind. (At least that explains the west).

Though the Canucks tonight were beyond ugly. The only thing that would have made it more of a farce is if the ex-Iraqi information minister had shown up and declared how badly we were annihilating the Blues.

And as for Bertie and whining; he's got a reputation for mouthing at other players anf officials.He should stick with the graveyard stare.

Scott Bennie

 

[Nightfall]

Aren't you sick of doing that? I know I am, along with "They didn't play that bad, if in the next game..."

I'm with Agamon, what's with all the lower seeds winning, other than Boston?

Wel, I've been sick of it since then 95 season ended. You can see how much has changed.

 

[Knightfall]

Ok, screw this.

It's the beginning of the 2nd period, and the St. Louis Blues are making the Canucks look like amateur beer-leaguers. It's 3-0, and the Canucks don't look capable of getting their act together.

I'm going out to see the rest of this travesty in a bar.

Congrats to the Blues fans on the board; your team looks like a professional, well-oiled, machine.

Mine's making me wonder how we fit all those clowns into that tiny little car.

TB, here's hoping the Canucks bounce back in game 2. What was the final score tonight? I can't turn on the TV to find out and I'm too lasy to go to nhl.com.

 

[Desdichado]

First game upsets all over the place! I can trust that the really great teams will pull out of it and win their series as expected still.

Then again, a little wild card could be interesting still.

 

[schporto]

Aren't you sick of doing that? I know I am, along with "They didn't play that bad, if in the next game..."

I'm with Agamon, what's with all the lower seeds winning, other than Boston?

Stop picking on my Bruins!
They'll come back, I tell you!
They'll come back! (shaking fist in air)

As for why the lower seeds winning? For the most part the teams are actually pretty close. And in some weird fluke the matchups aren't exactly BAD for the lower seeds. Really Leafs v Flyers is a fair fight. The Lightning is like Ottawa from a few years ago - way too inexperienced. Sens v Iles gets into the toughness for playoffs. (And I can't argue too much about the west, east coast early wake up times ) Besides. It was one game so far. Carolina beat the Wings in one game last year - and then got swept.
-cpd

 

[Tom Cashel]

With the exception of the Devils, all the lower seeded teams won the first game.

"Something to prove" always trumps "dominated the regular season."

But this year they're remembering to play that card.

And my sour grapes for the day: Stoopid Islanders...

 

[Harlock]

All the tops seeds I care about lose. The low seed I care about, the Bruins, lose. So based on the first games of the playoffs I have reached this conclusion - All Canadian Final. Heck, even though I do not think it is mathmatically possible I predict an all Canadian semifinal. Oh, they'll probably announce tomorrow that every American player in the league has used a stick with an illegal curve on the blade and they're all banned for life from hockey. An even though he's not American, they'll take my favorite player of all time, Ray Borque, out of any chances he had for getting into the Hall of Fame. Of course, that's based on only the first games of the playoffs. Thank goodness there is time for things to change!

On a side note, anyone see Kariya on ESPN after the "Mighty" Ducks got the win over the Wings? He was smiling and laughing and admitted they were outplayed in that first period of OT. My wife, who isn't exactly a hockey genius, even asked during the second period if Detroit had a power play because the Ducks were simply trying to clear for about the first 15 minutes of 2OT. What gives? People been reading the David and Goliath story in the Bible a lot lately?

 

[Tom Cashel]

On SportsCenter this morning: "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."