Sorry Lars - but your boys had a hell of a run.

One of the great playoff springs in recent memory and my beloved Blueshirts weren't even in it. Now the onus is on toronto - when was the last time they hoisted the Cup? '67 or thereabouts?

Ah..... I could watch Pronger get dumped on his butt and go -5 all day. Hilite of the series.

Nice effort by Philly to make it a series, but Chicago deserves the win. They played great.

its odd....I expected this result (to not win the cup) back in april.....but somehow it feels weird that they didn't win. In all it was a fun ride and the team definatly gave everything they had (can't ask for anything more) and i'm only slightly peeved that kane (you know the guy we got ping pong balled out of drafting...) scored the cup winner.....makes it seem like destiny was against us....

Ahhh the art of ping pong picking..... Seems to be what championship teams are made of these days. Sad.

Rob Blake retired today. I am saddened.

Scotty Niedermayer also retired... thank goodness we won't have to go through the will he, won't he crap again.

I'm so mixed about Scotty. The guy is a great player, winner, and all around nice guy. But, boy did he screw the Devils over with the way he left the team.

This is coming from a guy who couldn't care less if the Devils re-sign Kovy (I kind of don't really want them to), but this whole situation is getting to be pretty funny at this point.

It totally looks like Lou, under pressure from the owners, went ahead with the Kovy deal expecting the NHL to reject the whole thing. I know comparable other "cap avoiding" contacts have been made, but Kovy's was really pushing the limit. My question is, what legal basis does the NHL have to reject such a contract? Do they have any? While Lou is opposed to these kinds of deals, it looks like once again he might be planning on taking advantage of a loop hole the NHL left open with the new CBA.

As far as I know the CBA does not contain legal wording on what is considered a "cap avoiding" contract. It all seems to be a judgment call made by the NHL. If that's the case, and if the NHLPA decides to go to arbitration over the contract, does the NHL have any legal legal legs to stand on?

That's exactly it. Lamoreillo is trying to see what the margins are in terms of cap space. Its a gambit and we'll see how it plays out.

we also probably need a new thread for the new season.

Stag,

Where's the new thread? How about the ex-Badger Stepan getting the hat-trick in his debut? Hope you enjoy watching him in the NHL as much as I did here in Madison (& captaining the juniors to the gold over Canada in one of the most exciting games ever).

we do need a new thread - and hell yeah. I thought about you when the Baby Badger notched that hat trick the toher night. Of course they pissed me off by dropping one yesterday to our hated rivals - the Islanders - but I'm not fully engaged in the NHL yet.

New thread is a must though.

still probably need a new thread, but this one will work.

The Ilse kick the pens ass. literally and figerativley last night.

Funny that every team in the division has had one of these games with the pens....its not that they score on you and win, its that they have ***** like cooke and talbot running around out there taking people out and the rest of the team acts entitled because of it.

coindence that cooke throws a blatently uneccessary hit to get a suspiension a game or two before this one?

since the flyers are playing the kings next and since i'm going to the game i figured i find out who was on the kings other then the like 5 guys i know and came across this from one of the kings bloggers:

My Thoughts on the Pittsburgh Beat Down
When my goaltender gets knocked out by your back-up goaltender with one punch and your starting goaltender is laughing about it… I’m gonna remember that.

When you have a player on your team named Cooke, who runs his mouth and gets away with murder… for years… I’m gonna remember that.

When one of your players elbows one of my players in the head giving him a concussion knocking him out of action for a while… I’m gonna remember that.

The Islanders did, and Garth Snow did, too. Probably why he called up Michael Haley just for this game.

I’m not saying how the Islanders went about it was right, but Pittsburgh had it coming to them. Sorry to see Tangradi get hurt and no player should ever be jumped, but Talbot didn’t take it like a man and stand up and fight for what he did to Comeau so Matt Martin pulled a Bertuzzi. That’s the New York way, baby. That’s the Philadelphia way. Eye for an eye. Yeah, there’s gonna be a lot of suspensions, and they’re gonna be well worth it.

You think the next time the Pens step onto the ice against the Islanders, they’re gonna be laughing?

Not a chance.

Old time hockey is alive and well.

same kings blooger in response to mario lec-cry me a river-meu

Shut up Mario
“The NHL had a chance to send a clear strong message that those kinds of actions are unacceptable and embarrassing to the sport. It failed.”

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

“If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to re-think whether I want to be a part of it.”

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

So your players get their asses handed to them in an era that protects players. How many idiots were taking headshots in the 80’s and 90’s, Mario? And you still keep Cooke on your roster AND pay him over 2 million bucks?

Shut up Mario.

Don Frawley NEVER did anything like that, right? In 88-89 your Penguins had FIFTEEN players with over 100 PIM’s. FIFTEEN! Jay Caufield nearly had 300 by himself.

Then there’s Kasparitis and Barnaby, and didn’t your old mate Ulf Samuelsson once say, “I'm not going to say I'm a clean player, because I'm not. But I don't think I've ever intentionally tried to hurt someone—unless I got hurt myself. Then I like to get even."

THEN I LIKE TO GET EVEN!!!

Isn’t that what the Islanders did?

~Does anyone know why they started the season so late this year?

Seriously, I hate the Pens, but DiPietro deserved everything he got.

I didn't see the whole retaliation thing (been busy with Baby #3), but I hope NY was responding to more than what DiPietro decided to bring upon himself. The #1 thing DiPietro needs to do to support his team is not get hurt. Everyone (except for him I guess) knows that.

oh i don't think it was a you shouldn;t have punched my goalie that hard thing....it was much more of a **** you guys for not having any respect for us and running our players at the end of the game thing.

Talbot had a really bad hit on one of the isles that concussed him and it came at the end of a game the pens were easily winning. dipatero's atrocity of a fight came after matt cooke ran him (again after the game was well in hand) and at the end of a long melee. Its what makes rick's injury even more ironic.

Dipietro left his crease to trip a Pen. That why Johnson called him out.

And whoever that was on the Ilses that went after Johnson was doing so for a reason.

Other than that, I have no problem with the Ilses getting a little chippy after all the Pens get away with.

Oh, and I have even less respect for Mario now. What a moron! Glad the majority of the media called him out on being dumb. Too bad now we have to have all these "is it time to get rid of fighting" talks.

Slip slidn' away

Slip slidin' away

you knwo the more you can't score gaols

the more you're slip slidin' away

NYR = an all star goalie, and all world right wing (having a bad year) and 19 third line forwards and secodn tier defenseman. I hate March. i ahte the wya the NYR keep celebrating effort and not results. Sabres are two abck with three in hand. thsi is going to be ugly.

Although the Devils will NOT make the palyoffs.

its an odd time....the flyers can't figure out how to either score (especially on the powerplay) or play defense...very frustrating.

Stag Lord said:

No they will not. Should have pulled the trigger on Johnny Mac and Captain Crappypants sooner, but oh well. At least the future looks bright. Well, at least as bright as it did before the seaon started this year....

Let's Go Pens! Winning without (their two best players! (two of the top 5 players in the league)

mathlete said:

meh!