travel_dude

nd Dallas loses in OT. So, one point up on NAS.

Dallas just clinched with the game going to OT. Vegas also loses in shootout. Again.

Well, you want to give some time for a line to find it's mojo. I think Backlund looked best with Coleman and Dube, but that was some time ago. Backlund has looked bad in recent weeks, IMHO. Mangiapane with Backlund only works with Tkachuk. I would prefer they swap Jarnkrok with Backlund at the very least. At least Jarny is winning 50%+ draws every game, so they start with the puck. And Jarny is more of a passer. Ruzicka would be best used if Backlund was out. His last few games there was some things Sutter didn't like. Knows he can't really use him on a 4th line. No vacancies in the middle 6.

I meant clinched the WC1 spot. They clinched the playoffs with the single point last night and the VGK SOL. That's appropriate that Vegas is SOL.

Who had his back when he was getting ragdolled by Kassian? Lucic wasn't on the ice. McD cross checked him and charged him into the boards. Nobody did anything. Tkachuk was no better or worse than that last night.

Regarding Lucic and Gudbranson sticking up for the team. Was it two years ago that nobody would have Tkachuk's back because they felt he went over the edge too often? Now you see a team that sticks up for their players. Tkachuk does the same. No way Lucic goes after Duchene just for being good at hockey. That was for the spear the refs fails to enforce. Nothing dirty about it. Was a penalty every day of the week, but was an open ice hit. We remember. What makes this good is that Tkachuk enjoyed the tilt. He wasn't complaining about having to settle the score. It was sending a message. I don't really want the playoffs to devolve into this type of hockey, so sending a message was important.

I hope we can keep Wolf simmering down in Stockton without any adverse results. Pelletier may be ready, but I'm not so sure how you find a fit for him. Can't have too many small players on the team while still trying to play big boy hockey.

Season one looked like a clear victory. Holland made use of the buyout space, but blew it all on Barrie, Keith and Ceci, without addressing the 40 year old elephant in the room. $4M of that "cap space" was due to Klefbom being on LTIR. I don't excactly remember how they managed to be under the cap on day 1, unless Klefbom was previously counted on LTIR and they could go over by that much. Obviously Kane was added using LTIR cushion. From a pure dollars perspective, Lucic was cheaper in actual $$ remaining on his contract. Was traded after the bonus paid for the year. Holland has a much more challenging summer this year and leads into next season (23/24). Needs a starter not named Smith. New deals for Yamamoto and Puljujarvi and new "star" McLeod. Klefbom is looking to play in 22/23, so no LTIR to work with.

As I said, I hope NAS clinches with Saros on the shelf. Though, I don't know if it really matters if we face DAL or NAS.

The team is tight lipped about it, obviously. Wasn't listed as an emergency recall, though it would be considered that regardless unless they don't classify it as that. Not a big difference. With goalies, you have 2 unless one is injured, then it's a minimum of an emergency recall.

Saros is out until at least the playoffs. BSD needs to come up big in the final 2 games.

RW is the first tie breaker. NAS has 35 to Dallas' 30.

McD went supernova in the last week, Matthews got to 60, and Johnny 113. Matthews is getting the Hart, McD will go 2nd, but it's really not looking at all categories. Goals, total points is all. Matthews is close to Gaudreau in points and EV points, but Johnny leads those two plus +/-. That without the large number of PP goals or PP points.

Dallas doesn't even need to win any games, as long as Vegas gets 1 point or less tonight. Saros is a bad situation for NAS. BSD can probably get them one more win if he has to, but would be bad for his head to have to start the playoffs against CGY in CGY. Wardo messed him up here. Saros didn't just have a cramp last night, as he wouldn't need to be evaluated if that was all it was. Might just be coach misinformation of course.

The gift that keeps on giving. EDM also pays Lucic another $750k to not protect Connor. Coaching up north didn't seem to understand that you play a guy to a role, not to his contract. If I didn't know better, I would say that Holland must have signed Lucic to that deal as a UFA. The Lucic trade was thought to be such a win for the Oilers GM. Everyone called him a smart GM. Yet, he re-sign Kassian for too long. Trades for Keith with zero retention and loses a decent young D. Trades a young D for a useless complementary scoring F. Re-signs Barrie, because scoring goals is all you need. Gets Kane, who gets to play on a scoring line to up his value. Other GM's say thanks, we will sign him this summer. Cap disaster waiting to happen this summer and worse in 23/24.

No hatties his year for JH. He hasn't scored against either team we face in the last two.

Dallas beat a good team last night. Not that I see Dallas jumping ahead of NAS. Dallas plays tonight at home against ARI, while the Vegas plays CHI on the road. NAS plays COL tomorrow, but has clinched a spot due to RW. COL is so unpredictable, as is ARI. You could see all 3 bubble teams losing their next 2 games. Vegas eliminated if they get anything less than 2 points tonight.

Otter is the only thing that even would make it a close series. Bu then again, we also beat him twice in two starts.

My bad. VAN is done.

Gaudreau up to +63 now and 88 EV points. Sitting at 113.

Nobody wants to stop playing meaningful games.

Vegas plays CHI tomorrow and Blues on Friday. Dallas plays ARI tomorrow then ANA.

NAS plays COL and ARI.

Not sure I lake any team in the WC spot. VAN is done with anything less than 2 points.