Pierre McGuire just called Nate the "best hockey player in the world." I realize it was an exciting game Pierre, but let's not go crazy here.

What's the realistic over/under for Kadri suspension? Keep in mind, playoff games are worth more than regular season games. I just wanna say, Kadri has been pretty invisible for the last month or so. But, they're probably going to need him scoring at some point if they're gonna go really deep in the playoffs.

Kadri makes Tom Wilson look like a Lady bing finalist. What was he thinking, lol!

https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/451580 - my complete off season and playoff predictions - draft, expansion draft, all-nhl teams, awards, playoffs

Last year Heiskanen could’ve gone cost to cost and did a between the legs snipe, and the commentary would still talk about Mackinnon even though he was not on the ice.

Well duh, because if MacKinnion was on the ice it wouldn't have happened.

I do think the NBC guys only really prep to talk about the superstars, the goalies, and maybe one guy per team they think will do something. Most local crews do a better prep job on the "not their team" prep before games.

The thing I dislike the most about the Playoffs is the late start times for the West teams that are in the Central time zone.

Which I think is disappointing because I think the Panthers deserved a better "fate" but man the Lightning are playing with that championship pedigree.

Unlike my Blues. There's times/moments we're able to bottle up the Avs a bit but there was a fantastic article over on the Athletic that shows the Blues forwards just getting caught being "too" aggressive and getting caught deep (relatively speaking, because you only have to be a half step off and behind MacKinnon and then you're done) and lo and behold another odd man rush.

I've been simultaneously infuriated and embarrassed by my Blues inability to put together for 60 minutes the play that has had them in these games at moments. It's just been embarrassing. I know, the Avs are a really good and deep team. But so were the Blues not too long ago.

Did the championship window close when Petro left? *shrug* You can make the argument. But it's ok guys, "we don't do" full NMC's, so it's fine!! /sarcasm

I was at the Hurricanes game last night, so let me unpack it for ya now:

-Definitely the Loudest House in the NHL
-Refs were terrible, called at least 5 penalties on us where Nashville embellished real bad.
-Haula stinks.
-Nedeljkovic stood on his head for that SO
-Skjei and Pesce took over to fill in for Slavin.
-Very physcial
-Aho was great. He had one of those next level games.
-Who taught Nashville to fall over anytime they got touched. So fragile.
-And it looks like we made the refs pay for not giving us a second off the pk.
-Last but certainly not least; MASSIVE W. LET'S KEEP IT GOING IN NASHVILLE!

Avs are insanely good. Don't worry about it too much. The Blues are doing better than I expected but it's hard to win against the best team in the league

I wish I could go to a playoff game. PAIN

But I loved watching the Canes, especially in the playoffs

The Refs were horrible

Hopefully the Canes can keep up the momentum, going into Nashville

It's definitely nice to see that even people from other fanbases of teams who missed the playoffs are cheering on the Canes. This is our year. Hopefully we can go all the way, but take it one game at a time.

Completely real quote from @Dzinger18, not fake at all.

I know that the Panthers have a crazy attendance in their arena you don't have to say it.

Yep, that's me -- The diehard Panthers fan. Totally not fake. You can tell by my Profile picture and description. 🤣

Bit late to the party after lots of school work, but now that it's done I gotta make my playoff projections.

It's a bit lame do them after playoffs already starting so Ima just copy them down from my own bracket knowing it's already f*cked, but I don't make the f*cking rules here lol.

So my playoff predictions are as goes

Round 1

North Division
TOR 3-4 MTL
EDM 4-0 WPG

East Division
PIT 3-4 NYI
WSH 2-4 BOS

Central Division
CAR 4-2 NSH
FLA 2-4 TB

West Division
COL 4-1 STL
VGK 4-1 MIN

Round 2

North
EDM 4-2 MTL

East
BOS 2-4 NYI

Central
CAR 2-4 TB

West
COL 4-1 VGK

Semifinals

COL 4-1 NYI
TB 4-2 EDM

Finals

COL 4-2 TB

What about the Carolina Panthers lol

What happened to Slavin?

One of the most enjoyable things to watch this playoff has been the Hurricanes crowd reacting to goals/wins/etc

They're just a great fun team. There is plenty of great reasons to be a Canes fan right now.

I know it's a bit late to ask this, but which 1st round series is everyone most excited about (excluding your team's series)?

Definitely Florida and Tampa. Vegas and Minnesota is a good one too.

For me it's hard to decide ... TOR-MTL is a great rivalry, but I love watching the Avalanche and the Hurricanes (especially the Hurricanes because of the crowd ... not only is it a great crowd, but it's also the largest crowd so far) ... WSH-BOS has been super close, too.

One great thing about this 1st round is that there's a reason to be excited about every series aside from just the fact that it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

COL STL. Not the most balanced but I love seeing Makar, Toews, MacKinnon, Rantanen and Landeskog run circles around everyone else

Also the Avalanche home crowd