Would have been a totally different game had some bounces gone the right way. One thing I will say is Fleury is way overrated, they actually suggested him for the Conn Smythe tonight. I've never seen a less technically sound goalie with so much horseshoe luck, he had 4 go past him tonight that didn't enter the net. The easiest shots can go right past him when he tries to make a save at times (most hit posts or are corralled by the d-men) the Jets just need to shoot from all angles (see the one weak one he did let in tonight.) His glove is useless allowing a big rebound in the third that the Jets failed to capitalize on that should have been snared. He almost fell simply skating out to play the puck and allows juicy rebounds off his pads as well. His whole career has been this way as he frustrated my Wings on a few occasions. I have a feeling the Jets will get theirs in bunches if the puck bounces the right way. I'm afraid though it just won't in this series.

Is anyone at all surprised that Washington dropped both home games and let the series get tied? Because I'm not.

What the fuck is with this team. I get Tampa is good but you punked them twice and had them on the ropes and just let them back in with shitty penalties. Although I will say Vasilevsky was a fucking beast in the second period and that was a big part of the loss the other day. Shots were 28 to 9 at one point.

I feel like being a Sharks or Capitals fan in the last decade is the worst in any sport. Always being so good and so close and never being Champions. I can't think of any other team having that happen. Maybe Arsenal in the Premier League, but at least they won a couple titles in the 90s/early 2000s so most fans have something to remember fondly.

Yeah I did tell a buddy of mine to watch Tampa tie the series. Mostly because the Caps are known to choke. But, I also did not expect them nor any other team to shutdown Stamkos and Kucherov for four consecutive games.

Hopefully the Jets get it going in their series. I want this team to go all the way.

May 18, 2018 21:52:36 GMT Zappy said:

Yeah I did tell a buddy of mine to watch Tampa tie the series. Mostly because the Caps are known to choke. But, I also did not expect them nor any other team to shutdown Stamkos and Kucherov for four consecutive games.

Hopefully the Jets get it going in their series. I want this team to go all the way.

I don't think anyone should have expected the Caps to sweep Tampa, but when you go up 2-0 going back home, you HAVE to take at least one game. Now they go back to Tampa with a fresh start and all the momentum on Tampa's side.

I don't get it. Expansion teams in their first year shouldn't be this good, or make it this far.

But somehow, Las Vegas has become the exception.

And now they are in the Stanley Cup Final.

Do any of you think there's something fishy about this?

May 20, 2018 21:53:23 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I don't get it. Expansion teams in their first year shouldn't be this good, or make it this far.

But somehow, Las Vegas has become the exception.

And now they are in the Stanley Cup Final.

Do any of you think there's something fishy about this?

I read an article talking about its fishiness or unfairness to the league. They had more selections/choices then any other expansion team ever did BUT again, it wasn’t supposed to work. They shouldn’t have all meshed so well together so soon.

It is the year of the dog which is 2018 so nothing in sports surprises me anymore.

I don’t know how it could be fishy or rigged. You take a bunch of rejects from around the league, stick them on a brand new team, put tons of pressure on them to help expand the market to a new city...the chances of success are slim in most realities.

Winning the Stanley Cup is the hardest thing to do in sports, maybe short of winning an Olympic gold medal. Think of what you have to do. You have to make the playoffs. You have to win consistently all year just to get there. Then you have to win 4 games against another team that did the same thing. Then do it again. Then again. THEN ONE MORE TIME.

They still had to coexist and work together and win the games. Unless there’s a deep rooted conspiracy where every single team in the league was paid off by Gary Bettman and Vegas casino bosses to throw the entire season and playoffs, I don’t know how anyone could say this is fishy or rigged with a straight face.

This is an amazing feat and fans of other teams that are just bitter because they’ve had to wait years or decades to even get a shot at the Cup are ruining it.

What a great season from the Jets. Pretty clear that they ran out of gas after giving it their all to beat the league's best team in Nashville. They didn't get a single bounce against Vegas. Jets completely and totally outplayed Vegas, however Vegas capitalized on the Jets mistakes, and Fleury was insane.

Good on them. I hope they beat whoever wins the East. It's an amazing story regardless.

In their first year of existence, the Golden Knights are going to the Finals.

Unbelievable.

Yeah, the Golden Knights making it to the Stanley Cup finals, is absolutely incredible. Having said that I wouldn't mind the Caps bouncing back to eliminate the Lightning, and Ovechkin finally getting his cup.

May 21, 2018 2:17:31 GMT Foos said:

What a great season from the Jets. Pretty clear that they ran out of gas after giving it their all to beat the league's best team in Nashville. They didn't get a single bounce against Vegas. Jets completely and totally outplayed Vegas, however Vegas capitalized on the Jets mistakes, and Fleury was insane.

Good on them. I hope they beat whoever wins the East. It's an amazing story regardless.

The series was absolutely Fleury vs Winnipeg. He was unreal and has been all playoffs. Nobody has an answer for him this year.

May 21, 2018 2:26:43 GMT Lony said:

Yeah, the Golden Knights making it to the Stanley Cup finals, is absolutely incredible. Having said that I wouldn't mind the Caps bouncing back to eliminate the Lightning, and Ovechkin finally getting his cup.

I want Ovi to get a cup but I feel like Vegas is winning it all regardless of who they face and I’d be crushed if he finally made the finals after all these years only to lose to freaking Vegas.

The Caps forced a Game 7. Series still in the air.

May 21, 2018 1:42:42 GMT RT said:

I don’t know how it could be fishy or rigged. You take a bunch of rejects from around the league, stick them on a brand new team, put tons of pressure on them to help expand the market to a new city...the chances of success are slim in most realities.

Winning the Stanley Cup is the hardest thing to do in sports, maybe short of winning an Olympic gold medal. Think of what you have to do. You have to make the playoffs. You have to win consistently all year just to get there. Then you have to win 4 games against another team that did the same thing. Then do it again. Then again. THEN ONE MORE TIME.

They still had to coexist and work together and win the games. Unless there’s a deep rooted conspiracy where every single team in the league was paid off by Gary Bettman and Vegas casino bosses to throw the entire season and playoffs, I don’t know how anyone could say this is fishy or rigged with a straight face.

This is an amazing feat and fans of other teams that are just bitter because they’ve had to wait years or decades to even get a shot at the Cup are ruining it.

They weren't exactly rejects, Fleury is a three time cup champion, James Neal played with Crosby with much success and they got one of the top snipers from Florida in Jonathan Marchessault. Nate Schmidt was also a solid offensive defenseman they got from Washington. Hell they were winning without Thomas Tatar in the line-up who had great things planned for him in Detroit.

I equate this to the Ottawa Senators hypothetically getting Tom Barrasso and Mark Recchi in the expansion draft fresh off their success in Pittsburgh in 1991/92. That's pretty much what Las Vegas got with Fleury and Neal, the rules were much more relaxed.

I will say that people still calling the team an underdog after proving themselves by winning their division (lately the toughest in the NHL) is getting tiresome. They are just a really good team and not a surprise at this juncture.

We're not only gonna have a new Stanley Cup Champion this year, we're also gonna have a first-time winner.

Washington vs. Las Vegas, starting Monday!

It’s awesome. So much better then Lightning vs Vegas, IMO. The Capitals, mainly Ovekchin, deserve the Cup. They’ve worked he’s for it.

However, in the year of the firsts. We had the Eagles win their first Super Bowl, we had the first ever 16 seed beat the 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, I think we’ll have the first expansion team win a championship their first season.

I’ll be pulling for Washington, but give me Vegas in 6 with the MVP being Mr Stanley Cup Fleury.

Technically it already happened. The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup their first year in the league, but they relocated from Quebec and added some players. Wasn’t a brand new expansion team but still kind of was.

I don't count Colorado at all.

Neither do I, those early 90's Nordiques teams were fun to watch and were becoming contenders before they moved. They retained many of their players that built that foundation in Quebec. Funny once they moved to Colorado and Lemieux ran Draper they became my most hated team in the league as a big Wings fan. 

May 24, 2018 23:12:26 GMT Shootist said:

Neither do I, those early 90's Nordiques teams were fun to watch and were becoming contenders before they moved. They retained many of their players that built that foundation in Quebec. Funny once they moved to Colorado and Lemieux ran Draper they became my most hated team in the league as a big Wings fan. 

I'll say this.  Had the Nords never moved to Denver, they'd never get Patrick Roy.  The Habs, under NO circumstances, would've traded their best player to Quebec.

May 25, 2018 2:07:10 GMT CM Punk'd said:

May 24, 2018 23:12:26 GMT Shootist said:

Neither do I, those early 90's Nordiques teams were fun to watch and were becoming contenders before they moved. They retained many of their players that built that foundation in Quebec. Funny once they moved to Colorado and Lemieux ran Draper they became my most hated team in the league as a big Wings fan. 

I'll say this.  Had the Nords never moved to Denver, they'd never get Patrick Roy.  The Habs, under NO circumstances, would've traded their best player to Quebec.

Right. And then they wouldn’t have won a Cup.

I did say “technically.”

May 25, 2018 2:41:40 GMT RT said:

May 25, 2018 2:07:10 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I'll say this.  Had the Nords never moved to Denver, they'd never get Patrick Roy.  The Habs, under NO circumstances, would've traded their best player to Quebec.

Right. And then they wouldn’t have won a Cup.

I did say “technically.”

And I say Relocated, not Expansion.

Caps in 7. Just hoping for a game seven because it is doesn't get any better in sports.

I wanted to see a final game live but Caps/Knights is a better matchup. I'm looking forward to it.

This will be intresting, as we'll have a first time winner this year.

Tough to call. Either an expansion better than it deserves to be, or Ovechkin.

My heart says Caps in 6, but my brain thinks the Knights will win in 7.

But regardless of who wins, I predict Fleury will win the Conn Smythe.

Knights in 6

Ovechkin won't be able to cope with that relentless Knights forecheck.

Great opener to the Final. Vegas on top 6-4.

I hope we see more of that as we go along.

Very nice game one. Had a nice pace to 5he game since the start. Announcers continue to kiss Fleurys ass. Wilson is a piece of shit.

I'm getting a little tired of these gimmicks before the game in Vegas. But, nothing infuriates me more than a concert with the Stanley Cup BEFORE you win the Cup.

You first see the cup in the back during an elimination game not some concert before the finals ends let alone even begins.

Despite last night's result I was going to pick Caps in 7 so I'm sticking with that.

It's a Best of Five now. Another close game, with the Caps pulling it off this time, 3-2.

I can't tell what's a more powerful emotion: my surprising love for Pittsburgh West, or my undying hatred for the Caps. Let's go, Flower!