October 2018 NHL Game Thread

MiracleOfO2704

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Jul 12, 2005
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Hockey’s back!

MTL@TML 7:00
CGY@VAN 10:00
ANA@SJS 10:30

One last preseason game in Köln with what looks like the main Edmonton squad trying to hold off Kölner Haie 2-1 midway through the 2nd. I know people are looking for the Oilers to bounce back, but I’m not psyched about that roster.
 

McDrew

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Edmonton's schedule to start the season is hot garbage. They come back from Europe to play Saturday at New Jersey, then have 4 days off before playing at Boston and at the Rangers. Depending on when they went to europe, they could conceivably spend over 2 weeks on the road to start the season.

They also play the Bruins twice in their first 5 games and I hope the jet lag / travel weariness is awful.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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I think that game against the Devis is in Germany. So the northeast swing makes some sense to adapt back to NA.

Check that, Game 1 vs. New Jersey is in Gothenburg, Sweden. So they leave Germany, play Saturday in Sweden, fly back to North America, play against the Bruins, Rangers, and Jets, then FINALLY get home mid-October vs. Boston.
 

McDrew

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So, even worse than my understanding of it. The Northeast swing and doing only a 6 hour shift before games instead of a 9 hour one makes sense too. I'd rather they handle it like when the Sox-A's played in Japan. Their first 3 games were like the 3 days before the "regular" season started, and they got the 3 days after they returned to acclimate.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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And don’t forget, the Jets and Panthers do a back-to-back, “home-and-home” in Helsinki at the beginning of November. I have no idea how that won’t suck for those two.
 

reggiecleveland

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I was watching TSN. I was surprised to find out the Leafs have already clinched team of the century. They were unclear on if Auston Matthews is 3 or 4 times better than Gretzky, though.
 

burstnbloom

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I hate that Matthews is likely to end up being one of the greatest American players ever and he has to be on the Leafs, where their fanbase and the Toronto media will ensure that I hate him forever.
 

reggiecleveland

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I find it hard to dislike the Leafs tbh, especially as a rival of the Bruins. The Toronto media is really the worst though
My grandfather, and my Dad as a kid, were big Leaf fans. Bobby Orr made me a Bruins fan, but I had a soft spot for the Leafs until the Canadian cables sports networks came along. First of all I and a baseball, basketball fan, so the lead story in June being about a hockey player's celebrity golf tournament is bad enough.But TSN has a leafs story everyday. Leafs on off days get more air time, even when they suck, than games. The Raptors are all but forgotten.

I hate that Matthews is likely to end up being one of the greatest American players ever and he has to be on the Leafs, where their fanbase and the Toronto media will ensure that I hate him forever.
As a Canadian, Mathews is a perfect storm for me to dislike him. I feel the growing number of american kids playing hockey and already saturated level of play in Canada means the USA is likely to surpass Canada in hockey, and that our national network will be going exponential Jeter on an American while it happens will be annoying as hell.
 

cshea

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The Leafs fans and media are s incredibly nauseating that I then hate the Leafs. I don’t have much against the players, they are pretty awesome. Babcock sucks though, watching him fail is always fun.
 

reggiecleveland

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Babcock went to the same highschool as me. he was gone when I got there, but have to say have not heard any bad things about him. Worked his way up from the bottom.
 

WoburnDiaspora

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The Hurricanes are super fun to watch. Tied up the game with a bit over a minute left and then won in overtime over Minnesota on the road. Of course, in typical Hurricanes fashion they out shot the other team by almost double (53 - 24) and still needed OT to win it. Aho is awesome, J. Staal has found his game, Svechnikov is going to be rookie of year. The could finally make the playoffs for the first time since 2009 if their goalies could even be league average. Rod Brind'Amour has them playing a very wide open style.
 

veritas

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The Hurricanes are super fun to watch. Tied up the game with a bit over a minute left and then won in overtime over Minnesota on the road. Of course, in typical Hurricanes fashion they out shot the other team by almost double (53 - 24) and still needed OT to win it. Aho is awesome, J. Staal has found his game, Svechnikov is going to be rookie of year. The could finally make the playoffs for the first time since 2009 if their goalies could even be league average. Rod Brind'Amour has them playing a very wide open style.
I was thinking the same thing watching them tonight, they're very aesthetically pleasing to watch. It probably helps playing Detroit and wearing their sleek all-black unis.
 

LogansDad

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Yeah, just turned the Carolina game on, those uniforms are damn sharp.

Also, their forecheck, at least against Detroit, is relentless.
 
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veritas

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Yeah, just turned the Carolina game on, those uniforms are damn sharp.

Also, their forecheck, at least against Detroit, is relentless.
It was one of the more lopsided NHL games I've ever seen. Old veritas avatar Douglas Hamilton Jr and his partner Jacob Slavin had an 80% corsi. And Carolina basically stopped trying for a good chunk of the 3rd
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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If the Kings keep up this shitty play, I wouldn't be shocked to see John Stevens fired... Lots of the reporters here have started to sour on him. And the kings have been booed off the ice multiple times during their home games so far
 

LogansDad

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It was one of the more lopsided NHL games I've ever seen. Old veritas avatar Douglas Hamilton Jr and his partner Jacob Slavin had an 80% corsi. And Carolina basically stopped trying for a good chunk of the 3rd
I haven't watched a lot of Carolina, but in the bit that I got to see today Slavin looked outstanding. Really strong skater, strong on the puck, smart and physical.

Detroit is bad, but I can't remember many games where one team had so little space to operate with the puck. Every Detroit player had a Hurricane pinned to him the second they got control, and usually before. It was a really well executed gameplan by Carolina.
 

cshea

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Carolina has been fun and good for a few years, but they’ve taken it to a new level this season. They’ve added a bit more finishing ability, but they have always been a team that got the better end of the shot clock. The problem in the past was they couldn’t buy a save. And they still can’t really, with an .890 team save percentage and both goalies under .900 individually.

Carolina is also a team (maybe the only team?) that could conceivably put a package together that makes Toronto think about a Nylander trade. They can probably afford to dangle someone like Pesce or Slavin.
 

cshea

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Some early season disasters...we’ll see if anyone pushes the panic button and fires a coach or makes a dumb trade:

Kings- 2-7-1, can’t score. Really, really old. Probably not Stevens fault, but he could go. Someone compared them to the last few years of the Red Wings playoff steak where they tried to drag it out as long and they could instead of getting a jump on a rebuild. Seems about right.

Blues- Lots of hype for this team and they are 2-4-3 with cries to fire Yeo, who had some weird comments after last nights 7-4 loss.
 

McDrew

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Crosby had a clean break away on Griess in OT last night and Griess managed this bold poke-check to deny the opportunity.