Stanley Cup Playoff 2018 Live Chats

[bookworm]

I set up a Chatroom channel for live chatting the Stanley Cup Playoffs!
Join #NHL if you're able to be online while you watch, especially if you are rooting for either team playing, and let's have some ToO viewing parties! If you are watching but can't chat during game action you can at least come by to check in during intermissions!

For now just drop by when a game is on and see if anyone else is there, we'll get more organized and hopefully have progressively more attendance as the rounds advance.

Schedule of games, times, and channels

[Catspaw]

Fun idea! I'll try to come by at some point. I'm watching some games at my parents' house (it's more fun watching with my dad, plus he has resisted learned how to use the Roku to use the NHL app to watch, so this way I know he can have the game on) so I won't always have computer access, but there are lots of games still to come!

If anyone likes to be on the chat but isn't sure who to cheer for, one of my favourite hockey writers has a handy article to help you pick which playoff team's bandwagon to join! Click here of you're interested.

[bookworm]

It's crazy that the Golden Knights are in the playoffs in their first season!

[Catspaw]

They're doing super well, too! Definitely unexpected.

I'm hoping to make the chat for a while Wednesday night! How often are there people chatting about hockey? It can't be as fun as listening to my dad yell at the TV (in a good kind of way) but chatting with hockey fans is always fun!

[bookworm]

Interesting game yesterday. Toronto had four players in the penalty box at the same time at one point! I've never seen that before! The first penalty was a four minute on one Boston player and two minutes on two Toronto players, but the teams stayed at 5 on 5 which I don't understand. (Why didn't that make it 4 on 3? Or at least 4 on 4 since each team was penalized? I know I don't understand all the nuances of hockey but this one really confused me.) But then Toronto got two successive penalties so it ended up being 5 on 3.

[Catspaw]

Hmm, I must not have been watching when that happened. That sounds like quite the event! Maybe they were offsetting penalties? Some of the nuances of stuff like that isn't my forte either.

I was disappointed to see the Leafs lose in game 7 tonight. I wasn't on the chat because I was watching on and off between making supper, doing dishes, doing laundry etc. but they could have won. Right up until the last ten minutes or so they were in it. Oh well.

We're moving on to the second round tomorrow night, and I'm looking forward to the new matchups! It should be fun.

[bookworm]

It was announced as offsetting yes, but that's what I don't understand. It was one player vs two players penalized and four minutes vs two minutes served, so either way one team should have had an advantage it seemed. Unless they think two players serving two minutes each negates the one serving four so keep it all even. But that doesn't make sense either because the penalties are severed concurrently not back to back so it's only two minutes total time even though two are in the box, and the other team would then have their guy in for two more minutes after still. I don't know.

[Catspaw]

I think this might explain that, but it is still a bit of an odd one:

From the NHL rulebook:

19.1 Coincidental Minor Penalties - When coincident minor penalties or coincident minor penalties of equal duration are imposed against players of both teams, the penalized players shall all take their places on the penalty benches and such penalized players shall not leave the penalty bench until the first stoppage of play following the expiry of their respective penalties. Where goalkeepers are involved, refer to 27.1. Immediate substitution shall be made for an equal number of minor penalties or coincident minor penalties of equal duration to each team so penalized and the penalties of the players for which substitutions have been made shall not be taken into account for the purpose of the delayed penalty rule (Rule 26). This rule only applies when at least one team is already serving a time penalty in the penalty box that causes them to be short-handed.

When one minor penalty is assessed to one player of each team at the same stoppage in play, these penalties will be served without substitution provided there are no other penalties in effect and visible on the penalty clocks. Both teams will therefore play four skaters against four skaters for the duration of the minor penalties.

Should one or both of these players (or any other players) also incur a misconduct penalty in addition to their one minor penalty, this rule shall apply and the teams would still play four skaters against four skaters (the player incurring the misconduct penalty would have to serve the entire 12 minutes – minor plus misconduct – and his team would have to place an additional player on the penalty bench to serve the minor penalty and be able to return to the ice when the minor penalty expires).

When multiple penalties are assessed to both teams, equal numbers of minor and major penalties shall be eliminated using the coincident penalty rule and any differential in time penalties shall be served in the normal manner and displayed on the penalty time clock accordingly (see 19.5). If there is no differential in time penalties, all players will serve their allotted penalty time, but will not be released until the first stoppage of play following the expiration of their respective penalties.

There have been some good games lately! I've been watching when I can and enjoyed watching the OT Saturday night in Vegas. That was pretty exciting, with a Vegas goal called back in the first OT period due to goaltender interference and then San Jose winning in double OT! I enjoyed tonight's OT less, since I want Nashville and their gross catfish to exit the playoffs as quickly as possible, but hey, apparently we don't all get what we want. Go Jets!

[bookworm]

The Golden Knights are in the final!

I'm rooting for them to win. This article tried to tell me that might not be a good thing (the previous title was "The hidden downside of a Vegas Stanley Cup win") but I didn't understand the point it was trying to present.

[Catspaw]

I think the point is that true diehard fans are made through the hard times, not just the good times, so winning a Cup the first year of existence sets the bar super high, with nowhere to go but down, and that fans who love the team this year because they're doing so well might be in for a letdown/reduced interest if they do less well next year, which is very likely. I can remember cheering wholeheartedly for teams that lost in the playoffs (especially in the final round) that made me feel close to that team even in defeat. In 2011 when the Vancouver Canucks lost in the finals to the Boston Bruins, I already didn't like the Bruins, but I hated them even more after that. This February, almost 7 years later, there was a player on the Canadian men's Olympic team that the announcers kept saying was part of the Bruins Cup winning team of 2011, and I kept saying (yes, out loud) to stop talking about it, because it just made me cranky. I will always remember that loss. I will always cheer for the Canucks. I will always hate the Bruins. That's how fandom goes. Vegas is missing out on the "suffering together" part of fandom....though I'm sure their turn will come. It happens to all of us. There are just more painful years for some teams than others.

I don't know if that helps, bookworm, but that's my interpretation of the article, based on my experience. Maybe not everybody has moments like that, but I have a few!

[bookworm]

That makes sense, thanks Catspaw. It doesn't convince me I shouldn't root for them though, because I don't care about the Knights themselves one way or the other, I just think as a fan of the sport in general it would be pretty neat for a team to win in their first year.

[Catspaw]

Glad I could help! It would be pretty crazy. I'm waiting to see what the final match-up is to make my decision, since I'm okay with all three teams but don't love any of them. I have a friend who is a crazy big Lightning fan, so if they beat the Caps, I might cheer with her, though the Caps have been so long-suffering that it seems cruel for them to lose the one year they finally manage to get past the Penguins!

[bookworm]

This is it! Washington Capitals vs Las Vegas Golden Knights for the Stanley Cup!
Pick a side and join the chat! #NHL

Schedule:
Game 1: May 28 on NBC
Game 2: May 30 on NBCSN
Game 3: June 2 on NBCSN
Game 4: June 4 on NBC
Game 5: June 7 on NBC - if needed
Game 6: June 10 on NBC - if needed
Game 7: June 13 on NBC - if needed

[Laura Ingalls]

Go Caps!

[Catspaw]

Yay! Laura and I are cheering for the same team! Go Caps! I think it's Ovi's turn. It would be awful for them to finally make it past the Penguins and then win in the third round in game 7 just to lose to a team that didn't even exist a year ago. Holtby has been awesome, and I've always liked him.

[bookworm]

Oh I forgot I wanted to mention an amusing incident I saw in West Final Game 5.

The Jets goalie's mask strap broke and he had to change to his backup mask. One of the commentators said "Could that affect the goalie?" The other said "Oh no, you can feel a difference but it's not going to throw him off his game." The Knights immediately score. The guy goes "Maybe I was wrong about the mask..." Probably just coincidental timing, but it was really funny.

[Catspaw]

I was not at all amused by the goal, but that is pretty funny commentary! At least the guy was willing to admit to being wrong. I was watching CBC, not NBC, so I didn't hear that. The judge is out on how much of a difference the mask made, but Hellebuyck went back to his usual mask as soon as they could get it fixed.

I might miss part of the game tomorrow, but I am very curious to see how things go! This should be interesting!

[bookworm]

The final is underway! Join the chat if you can!