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Ummm is Brent Burns capable of playing a single degree of stiff defensive zone cover anymore? Dude wanders around and is often caught flat footed, always looking a half step behind the play. Not sure he will last though his 8 year contract which just kicked in last season.

Sharks and Jones are no match for the Knights.

How annoyed must you be if you're the Sharks, a team that's been the model of consistency over the years but never got over the hump, and these expansion Johnny Come Latelys waltz in and leapfrog ya?

Pacioretty and Stone are ridiculous together. Ridiculous.

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Don't forget Paulie Walnuts! Dude's always been a great postseason performer. Still so very bitter the Avs wasted so many of his prime years in a slow, and ultimately failed, rebuild effort. And he's one of those guys who finds chemistry with just about anyone you put him with. He may not be a superstar in his own right, but he's someone who brings the best out of superstars around him, and makes the game easier for them by winning faceoffs, winning puck battles behind the net and around the boards, and playing solid defensive hockey. I don't know if there's a center out there better suited to lineup alongside Mark Stone.

As for the Sharks, pretty clear that Erik Karlsson is not 100%. Whatever that injury was that had him miss so much time to start the year is still hobbling him somehow. Add in the uproariously bad defense Brent Burns supplies (as pointed out by Drew Doughty) and the fact that the goaltending issues that everyone but Doug Wilson seemed to be concerned about, and you have a team on the cusp of elimination in the first round. DeBoer will probably pay the price but Wilson shares a huge part of the blame in constructing an old, cap-strapped team with subpar goaltending.

I also don't think Karlsson is returning to San Jose, but I'm not convinced he's headed to Tampa either. Florida, maybe...?

Karlsson, now that he's truly without a home, will go to the highest bidder. Wonder if the piling up of injuries will soften his value, but I'd imagine whoever loses the Panarin sweepstakes (minus CLB) will look to EK.

Could see unexpected teams like the Rangers and Kings look into it, but I'd put the Cats, Knights, Sharks at the top of the heap for now.

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I was just thinking the Rangers. Every time they seem to be getting into a proper rebuild they see the shiny new object on the market and go after it rushing things instead of sticking with the plan.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

The Flyers have less than 50M on the cap next year and the Hawks are at 60M. Giddy up they need lots.

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Oh wow, imagine EK65 with an aging-but-still-quite-good Duncan Keith with Gustafsson, Jokiharju, and possibly Boqvist next season. Flyboys might make it work too.

Sharks aren't out of it yet. Hertl with the heroics. I remember Vlasic was getting a lot of criticism earlier this year for looking sluggish, but he's back to his impenetrable self.

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Jones found it within himself to play decent in goal. Go figure. Fleury let in at least one kinda-iffy one to open things.

Gallant called Deboer a clown! Game 7 goes down tonight!

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I know Wild Bill Karlsson didn't drop 40 goals like last season, but man is he a great all-around player.

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The team that scores first is 129-44 (.746) in the 173 all-time Game 7s of the postseason, including Boston's win earlier this evening.

Not this time. Went to bed thinking it was over, but Kevin Labanc had other plans. Four points, Sharks move on. What a series, what a rivalry. Love it.

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What a fucking game!

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

That was one of the greatest 3rd periods of playoff hockey I have ever seen, and to have it be a game 7 makes it all the more amazing. I am really glad I did not turn it off and go to bed when Las Vegas was up 3 - 0 in the third.

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Bíonn macalla ag an bheatha sa tsíoraíocht. Liverpool FC: 2019 and 6-time Champions of Europe. 2020 and 19 time English Premier League Champions YNWA. JFT 97

Wow. What happened on the penalty? Legit?

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

Eakin got 5 and game for a cross check to Pavelski that caused a head injury when his head banged the ice. Looked to me like a penalty but not a major. The refs thought it was a cross check to the face, which it wasn't.

Either way, that was an amazing game to witness, the Sharks blasted out of a cannon after that infraction and completely dominated the 3rd period. Down 3-0 in the third period of game 7 with 15 minutes left to go - and 3-1 in the series, that was one of the greatest comebacks in NHL playoff history.

Maybe the Sharks have a little more luck on their side this time around and can manage to win one for Jumbo.

No....and the explanation was

So now we are handing out penalties based on the extent of injuries. Dangerous precedent for this new NHL.

The play was borderline for 2 minutes much less 5.

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

I've always maintained that calling penalties and gauging their severity based on the resulting injury is fucking bullshit. A guy who swings his stick at a guy's head with malicious intent should get just as much as the guy who connects and hurts a guy.

That said...that was a fucking idiotic thing for Cody Eakin to do. Completely and totally unnecessary. If indeed that finally puts an end to THAT shit, I don't really mind it. I'd be way more mad at Eakin than I would be at the refs if I were Gallant.

Also, the Knights had multiple opportunities to close this one out. They also could've, y'know, not given up FOUR GOALS on one kill. Y'all also could've won it in OT.

I don't think Gallant necessarily managed things down the stretch that well at all, certainly not in OT. Both coaches were going with a short bench, but the Knights were plain exhausted there when Goodrow, in his first OT shift, just kinda zipped past everyone and won it all.

That was the craziest close to a playoff game I've ever seen. Bad call or not, sure made for some good drama.

Don't know which team the Avs would have fared better against.

Knights got screwed pretty hard. think they kinda have to bring in replay for majors now that this has happened, yeah I know who needs more replays but majors are rare and this is not the first time a whole games outcome changed on one. It is also a call they have to have right.

As well seeing Fluery choke comments and jokes today. Watched the goals and sometimes in net you can get beat many times quickly due to bad luck not failure.