Blues/Jets followed by Avalanche/Stars on Saturday night to kickoff the playoffs...


https://i.imgur.com/TU1R4qL.png

Golden Knights vs Caps

And just for side bet...


Devils vs Stars

I haven't watched the Knights much, but I know in the past couple seasons they finally have some scoring... not that it seemed to matter much when they were going deep into the playoffs with three 3rd lines and a 4th.

The Caps are tough... I somehow managed to watch quite a few of their games and it seemed like every game they'd have some 2-4 goal spurt in a matter of like 5 minutes. Everything seems to be working for them this season and I don't think anyone expected it.

That Flames/Kings game last night was incredible, and it wasn't even playoffs.

Hoping the Kings can finally find a way to solve the Oilers. It feels like a Bills/Chiefs situation, but I do think the Kings are a better team with a better goalie and tough to beat at home. But McDavid/Draisaitl.

Dallas lost their last 7 games, didn't rest any of their forwards, and lost their best player with a knee in the last game of the season. Pretty bad personnel management to say the least. Good for the Avs though. I could definitely see the Avs come out of the West, which is about as big a gauntlet as there is in any major sport right now.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said Jason Robertson is week-to-week and will not play Game 1 vs Colorado<br><br>Robert Thomas practised for STL today and is available for Game 1 vs Winnipeg</p>&mdash; Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) <a href="https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1913285381912506709?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It's been a pretty solid season for us tbh. Dorofeyev was always a much hailed prospect and had a breakout regular season last year. This season he's been incredible scoring 35 goals. Eichel has been a great two way guy getting tons of points and Hertl had been excellent. Our four centers are the best group in the NHL imo. Eichel, Hertl, Karly and Roy. They have everything.

Other guys like Kolesar and Howden have been a big surprise with their offensive numbers too. All in all we've been on a great run since the league started again, we're finally fully healthy and the boys are ready to go. Looking forward to this playoffs. Last year we had injuries and gave up a 2-0 lead to Dallas. Can't help but wonder what would have happened if we'd won game 3 after it went to overtime. Oh well. We're in a much better place now and hopefully that shows in this first series against the Wild.

This conference is gonna be interesting. We had some troubles with the Kings although many times we played them shorthanded. We beat up the Jets mostly bar one game. Avs we did OK against too and we had some back and forths with the Oilers and Dallas. The Blues could be a wildcard tbh. I'm not sure there's a clear favourite to win the cup right now. The first round should paint a better picture I guess.

I actually get blacked out from Knights games now that the Yotes are in Utah (****in' NHL :shake: ), but their game against the Avalanche was nationally televised a few weeks ago... hard to tell from just one random game, but they seemed pretty evenly matched, both teams had the ice tilted in their favor at times. The Knights had that short handed goal that seemed to get the Avalanche in a funk for a while before they pulled out of it.

And yeah, I think you could make a case for the Caps, Panthers (assuming Tkachuk is healthy), or Lightning in the East while every other team is in that 'gotta prove it first' category.... and in the West there's the Knights, Stars, Avalanche, Oilers.

Granted, seeded 1-8, the Avalanche and Panthers are actually the 5th seeds. :shrug:


https://i.redd.it/fyxy0c00mlve1.png

I was really hoping that series was going to get a weekend time slot, because it's always on the later side and I end up missing good chunks of it... it does suck for the Kings to run into the Oil every freakin' postseason, but I guess OTOH if it wasn't them this season, it would be the Avalanche. :shrug:

The puck has dropped for the fight for Lord Stanley. Toughest trophy to win in my opinion

Nice shot, but looked like Hellebuyck wasn't in a good position there... postseason form!

Wow, huge goal there to tie it up before the end of the period.... some great hockey bounces so far on both ends.

Time for some Playoff Hockey.

I managed to buy tickets for a concert tonight. That was unfortunate. Hoping Landy plays, but Bednar says we have a healthy group, so it might actually be tough for him to crack the lineup.

Guessing he plays game 3 if not tonight though. The home crowd would go nuts.