TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING ARE THE CHAMPS 2020-2022 THE NHL 2020-2021 SEASON THREAD (INCLUDING LIGHTNING HANGOVER AND OFFSEASON SHENANIGANS. HOCKEY IS THE BEST)

that photoshopped image is in bad taste. there's a certain type of team that would do that. the la kings are one of those teams, as well.

i don't particularly care who celine dion supports, but there's something kind of evil for wanting to give the appearance of your own people turning against you, for lack of a better phrase. yes, i know dion wore a knights sweater when performing in vegas, but that's what entertainers do for fun, so that's different.

the kings did the same thing when they said "you're welcome" to the "rest of canada" for beating the canucks.

sorry, this is probably just a pet peeve of mine.

also, stoked the isles won this one. both series have been so intense and fun to watch.

Pandemonium

Wow Habs

Bonne St-Jean!

I can't believe it

it would be so awesome if price gets a cup

https://i.imgur.com/sPHI0NG.png

that's a beautiful face right there

If the Isles pull it out it will be quite the underdog final. Pretty sure no one had that in their bracket.

Shows how the regular season is useless.

Habs were 24 and 32 and goal differential of -9.

They managed to outshot the opponent 4 times out of 17 games (includes one tie).

This is the 1999 Sabres.

yeah habs had fewer points in the regular season this year than the rangers and the stars. 18th in the league overall, I think

i am a habs fan and i cannot understand this at all except through the lens of "dom ducharme's system really did take a certain amount of time for the players to integrate into their play."

nah, Carey Price is Jesus and that's about it.

danault and kotkaniemi are pretty damn good

If it’s against Tampa I hope they win, fwiw.

anyway 2021 habs >>> 1991 north stars

go habs go

GO HABS GO

Sigh. Go habs, do the impossible.

i see that no one has the hart to discuss that first game. i get it. pretty dire for the habs. kinda concerning. now i'm worried about a sweep, which would be a boring way to end what's been an absolutely wild playoffs. so, please, habs, make a go of it! also, i hope gallagher is ok. hopefully he just got his head scraped across the ice rather than bashed into it. the slo-mo looked scary. but he looked more annoyed than concussed after, just bloodied. so hopefully that's a good sign.

agree that the Habs look outclassed, maybe Price can save them but idk how

my main hope these past couple of years is that Stevie Y does as great a job rebuilding the Wings as he did building the Lightning

Still a bit stung by the Isles game 7 loss. Isles-Habs would have been so exciting and unexpected. Tampa seems unlikely to be fazed by the Habs, but I hope to be proven wrong.

Tampa seems unlikely to be fazed by the Habs, but I hope to be proven wrong.

same

i thought the habs looked quite overmatched in their first game against Vegas. Hoping they can find matchups/get a lucky bounce tonight. When they get that first goal they're almost like a different group

the lightning illegally circumventing the cap has given them an edge. if the nhl is going to turn a blind eye, i kind of hope all teams start doing it. but putting kucherov on LTIR, and only activating him recently, thus not counting his $9.5 million salary toward the cap, allowed them to get savard

I don’t think it’s technically illegal? Kind of a loophole. I assume any team in the same position would do the same thing. Should probably be a rule that a person has to play a game in the regular season in order to qualify for the playoffs.

it's not illegal, sorry. i guess this just has me upset over how this league operates

This is just LTIR? This has been a part of the CBA since the first lockout in 04-05.

So maybe shooting less than the opponent was the best strategy.

So you're telling us we've seen this before from Blake Coleman.... 🤯 #StanleyCup

(🎥: @Sportsnet) pic.twitter.com/Jx2Xz3h1CX

— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) July 1, 2021

welp

Yeah this is gonna be over soon

Fuckin Sun Belt franchises

- edmonton carolina
- ottawa anaheim
- mtl tb

- calgary tampa

I’ll add Buffalo - Dallas

i didn't even remember these ones this is how dead to it ive become

idk i live in montreal and hockey isnt my sport but any other year idve been swept up in it? but not seeing people & also it not feeling "real" and also being all-in on ottawa and edmonton those years (i lived in ottawa just before that year, and ryan smyth was a great mascot) i just... i can't

but ill tell ya

i watched a video of quinn hughes skating yesterday and it almost was enough to reawaken the hockey fan in me. unreal

in more trivial matters, victor hedman became the first player to score a goal in all 12 calendar months

and

At 19,786 days, the @MapleLeafs have officially tied the @NYRangers for the longest @StanleyCup drought of all time. #LeafsForever #NHLPlayoffs

— Since Leafs Last Cup (@LeafsIastCup) July 2, 2021

better than coleman's

🤯🤯🤯#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/xVA5FC498i

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) July 6, 2021

☺️

just as well they choked in '16 and '19 or we'd have an honest-to-god dynasty on our hands

even so . . . pretty fucking impressive

congrats florida! you have a good team, especially when you egregiously bypass the cap

i kind of hate this team, because a younger team like tampa winning it three times symbolizes such a disgusting trend. horrible, undeserving fan base to boot. all business over love of the sport.

kudos to vasilevskiy, though. he was out of this world. he looked possessed whenever he was on the ice.

i also noticed this was probably one of the few times i didn't hear people booing bettman. the sooner he is out, the better this league will be.

Lol @ egregiously bypass the cap. They are only like the 50th team to ever do that in the last 17 years.

what they did is legal per the rules, like it or not.

had few illusions that the habs could dig themselves out of that hole, but was really hoping for one more win for them. oh well. was kind of fed up with caring about this season anyway. ready to move on. bring on the expansion draft so we can get that over with too! maroon to seattle, kraken win the cup, maroon gets back-to-back-to-back-to-back!