All is right with the world again.

Pretty cool to see the Sharks in the final. The Blues have always had a bit of a choking problem, but now they've just choked against chokiest chokers in the league. Does this mean that the Blues are now the undisputed choke champions? I guess we'll see. Either way, very awesome playoffs this year. I'm excited to see how it all wraps up.

Well my usual spring ritual where the Blues kick me in the dick was a bit later than normal but in the end there we go.

As for choking. The Sharks? Please. The Blues are 49 years in and only made the Finals due to the NHL putting all expansion teams in one division from 67-70. So we made the Finals three straight years and were swept in all series. 0-12. We have not been back to the Finals since. We have only made the Cup semi-finals 4 times since then 71-72, 85-86, 00-01, and 15-16. We have made the playoffs 40 times with no Cups. A record. We are the oldest team without a Cup, the only team left from the "first expansion" without a Cup. We are 49 years in and have never won a game in the Finals. We watch as all these teams that have entered the league since then win Cup, or at least go to the Finals. Oilers, Whalers/Hurricanes, Lightning, Ducks, Devils, Nordiques/Avalance, Flames, and Islanders all have won the Cup. The Panthers, Senators, Capitals, Canucks, Sharks, and Sabers have at least played for the Cup. And from that 1967 expansion the Kings, Flyers, Penguins, and Stars all have Cups. The Seals folded or they would probably have won a couple.

The Sharks have been in the league 25 years and I hear about how long their fans have suffered. Screw their n00b fans and their suffering. The Blues are one of the most futile franchises in pro sports history. We will out choke any team anywhere any time.

We? What do you mean "we"? Do you play for the Blues? And why are you bragging about them being the chokiest? I was mostly joking, but it seems like you're going a bit overboard.

Just thank your lucky stars you're not a Leafs fan, Ancient_Mariner. Then you'd have pretty much all the issues you just listed, AND your team is one of the Original Six, is constantly in the media spotlight and gets shit for being perennial losers. The only time I've even seen my team in the playoffs in the past ten years, they pulled off one of the biggest chokes in a game 7 in sports history.

Alright anyways enough of my whining. I've actually really enjoyed the snippets of playoff hockey I've watched this year, partially because I have no emotional investment in it. Crosby's eventual game-winning goal in game 6 was unreal. Made two of the better defencemen in the league look like pilons and sniped Vasilevsky's five-hole like the puck was on a rope. Dude seriously has superhuman core strength. Glad to see the Sharks finally get their time in the spotlight as well, especially because of their reputation as chokers and the fact that this was probably the first year in a while where there was no hype around them going into the playoffs. They always look solid in the regular season, but absolutely no one pegged them to get this far. Most people didn't see them coming out of the first round.

Gotta keep rooting for the Sharks now, cause Big Joe needs a cup (not to mention Marleau) and Pittsburgh and Tampa have both won in the past 15 years and I like to see new teams win it. Gonna be a pretty great final either way--imagine if Tampa wins and gets Stamkos and/or Bishop back?

Over the last twenty years, your Blues and my Sens are in a dead heat for Top Chokers, by my definition. Which is: losing to a supposedly inferior team, or having a superior team come back and beat you in game 7 after you'd gone ahead with 3 wins. By that metric, both teams have a choke rate of 35% (7-for-20) since 1997. And that's not even counting 2004, when Patrick Lalime's legs were suddenly switched for those of a two-dollar trollop, thereby undoing Alfredsson's victory guarantee. I'll concede that St. Louis is currently on a five year choking streak, which might be unprecedented.

EDIT: After some research, it seems the Sharks have joined us in a three-way tie with 7 chokes in the last 20 years.

I'm kidding around too, but we have been wailing and gnashing our teeth over Blues hockey forums so I had this ready to go. But honestly, its true. The Blues are defined by their futility which is why this year hurts so much more than prior years, they were actually close and we lost to another team of chokers! If they keep up their 15 year schedule I'll be closing in on 60 before they get this far again.

Most fans tend to say "we" since they put quite a bit of emotional and financial investment into supporting their teams. No implication I'm actually on the team. Though at times the blues looked like they had me playing for them...

We have just been choking longer. At least you have won a game in the Finals round.

The Blues are fate paying back St. Louis for the Cardinals. Heck even the Rams won a title while they were here.

Same, I fucking like Joe, a future hall of famer and the best assist-man of his generation. He deserves a cup. I think I'll go buy a Sharks new era cap hahaha.

I think the Pens got this tonight, I dislike TB and don't want them in the finals again.

@Toronto: your team will be super great soon, RTD. With either Matthews of Laine (both are phenomenal), Marner, Nylander, Kadri and Reilly, the future is bright for the Leafs.

I'm pulling for a sweep by the East. Though it will be painful to watch a Bolts win again.

I can't figure out how a hockey Mecca like Toronto has been so mediocre so long. No Cups since the expansion. Insane. The money is there.

We have had horrible owners, we skipped the draft one year in the 80's while our owner was trying to move to Saskatoon, terrible hockey people running the team, and a lot of bad luck.

Joe T is so cheap and dirty...I love it.

Well I think I'm gong to try to ignore hockey until the World Cup.

Since the Bolts are the closest thing I have to a home team, I'd be happy to see them have a crack at the sharks. I'd even like to see Pittsburgh in there. Either way, this year has had an awesome playoffs. As long as there's a change of scenery, I'm happy. I'm also tired of seeing the Blackhawks. I have nothing against them, but I have seriously grown tired of seeing them. Especially since they started their streak of ownage with a Stanley Cup win against my favorite team. I agree that Big Joe and those vets deserve a cup, it will be awesome if they can pull it off; regardless of who wins in the east.

Dang. I was kinda hoping for Ben Bishop vs. Brian Elliott. That way I could say Senators goaltending won the Stanley Cup

I'm going to root for the Sharks even though half of the players look like scary cavemen with their greyish-brown microbe catchers / hipster beards. They have a winning chemistry of energizing veterans and promising talents. I've never been a big fan of Pittsburgh who aren't playing spectacular hockey as a group despite the numerous talents on their team.

kluseba, you're a Sens fan too, right? In that case, here are the only reasons you need to not cheer for Pittsburgh: 2008, 2010 and 2013.

I like those years

For real though I'm all in on San Jose. I like seeing underdogs win (unless Chicago is a favorite, then I mean obviously) and Jumbo was one of my early favorite players, even if he morphs into a douche come the postseason. When I was a young kid and was about a decade away from caring about hockey, I liked the Sharks' logo. So yeah this is an easy one for me.

Yep, absolutely cheering on the Sharks. Underdogs, never come this far nor won a cup, cool players like Joel Ward and Jumbo Joe and just a fun team to watch, plus, importantly, fuck the Pens.

Someone's salty.

Anyways this'll be a really good series. I'm gonna call Pens in 7, but that's just me. Can't wait!

Hey, I've been saying "fuck the Pens" for forever! It's not saltiness, it's a lifestyle.

Not sure what happened. The Bolts just ran out of steam it seems, but at least the hometown news here has been pretty easy on them this week.

My friends and I always enjoy cracking jokes about various hockey superstitions, and the Bolts win over the Flames back then is always worthy of a reference. One could say that they are paying back that blood money from that iffy cup win. On a serious note, if the Penguins pull this off, I'll be glad to see Phil the Thrill finally have a cup. I've always liked him, and the Phaneuf train too, but the rest of that team can suck it.

STANLEY CUP FINALS

Pittsburgh Penguins (2nd in Metropolitan Division, Eastern Conference) vs. San Jose Sharks (3rd in Pacific Division, Western Conference)
The San Jose Sharks surprised everyone by going all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history this season. In their first ever Stanley Cup Finals appearance, they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins, who caught fire after Christmas following a slow regular season start. The Penguins have won three Stanley Cups, with the most recent being in 2009. As a good omen for Pittsburgh, that same year, the Penguins fired their coach after a slow start to the season, and then caught fire en route to winning the Stanley Cup. During the regular season, the Sharks and Penguins played each other twice, with the Sharks winning the first game and the Penguins winning the second.
Prediction: Pittsburgh in six games.

Game 1 was fucking great, and I'm not just saying that because my team won. Can't wait for game 2!

I agree, that was an excellent game, and I think this will be a great series.

This is a weird finals for me. The Penguins have been my favorite team since I was a little kid, but I'm from the Bay Area so the Sharks have always been a close second. And since Marleau and Thornton are getting a little old, I'm reluctantly rooting for the Sharks because those dudes deserve a Cup. After all the work they've put in and the criticism they've received over the years, it would be great to see them win it all.

I've always kinda liked the Sharks, but now I've lost all respect. Now they deserve to get swept.

What happened? I haven't watched the games.

I'm guessing he's referring to Logan Couture's comments after game 2 where he accused Crosby of cheating on faceoffs. Which he walked back today by saying "everyone tries to cheat on faceoffs"

To be fair, he's right in both statements. Everybody DOES try to cheat on faceoffs, but you'll never convince me that superstars don't get preferential treatment. It's not as bad as it was when Campbell was in charge of discipline and player safety (I'm never ever ever going to get over when Malkin flipped shit and started swinging at everybody while still holding his stick in the last few minutes of a game because he was super frustrated, only to walk away with no punishment because Campbell and Bettman are awful), but if somebody leveled that against one of my own guys like Toews, who is the league leader in faceoff percentage last I checked, I wouldn't be surprised.

Maybe, I don't know. I do believe Logan Couture's faceoff percentage is abysmal, though. It just came off as very whiny and hollow to me. Like, win a fucking game. Get 10 shots a period. There's no way he says that if the Sharks weren't down 2-0.

This just in: "the best hockey players in the world get preferable treatments" Report says.

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky says : "well duh"

I might as well talk about the series. The way the Pens are playing is incredible, I can't see them losing more than 1 game if they continue to play that way. Crosby is awesome and really want to win, Thornton deked him on the helmet and he did nothing, very hard to distract him right now.

I think we should already talk about who will win the Conn Smythe for the Pens...

Yup, I thought the same. He came across as a whiney little piss-baby. I always hated in professional sports when a player starts blaming things other than his team's and his own play when they lose. He comes across as even more of a piss muffin because look dude, it's the NHL playoffs. The most grueling sports series you can play in, and you're going to accuse a star player of cheating? Well, he does play for the Sharks, so I guess he doesn't have as much playoff experience as I thought...

I'd go Kessel, personally. Bro's been that fucking dude. But I could see it going to Murray as well.

If things continue like this, I'd say they might lose one of the next two at San Jose and win it back home game 5.

I haven't been able to watch literally a single playoff game this year, but from what I'm hearing, it seems like Pittsburgh is just completely in control. Them winning 4-1 or even maybe a sweep doesn't seem too unlikely. Bummer because I'd rather see San Jose but it seems like the Pens' signature Second Half Afterburner is lasting through the entire playoffs for a change.



I really hope you don't mean this in the sense of "It's the playoffs, let them play", because there's almost nothing I hate more than the idea that the rules suddenly stop mattering once you're at the end of the road. I've got a buddy who argues for this mentality every year and it drives me nuts. "Yeah obviously that was a vicious slash but it's the Finals, don't throw one of the best players in the box right now". Fuck that shit with dynamite, play the game the way it's meant to be played.

It's more the coaching change that's got the Pens playing unreal. Sullivan came in and made the team focus on speed. I can't wait to see what happens with a full year of him coaching here. Plus the Pens have an unreal amount of depth, with the third line being ridiculously vicious. Shit, even the fourth line ain't too bad with Cullen. They can pretty much strike whenever with whoever.

@BastardHead don't worry dude, that is not how I meant it. I agree 100% with what you said, I can't stand when people try to justify faking getting slashed or something like that just to get a call. What I meant by that post was Logan Couture should know what it's like having to play against real competition like that, especially since they've made it this far. He didn't acknowledge that he was getting destroyed, but he pulled the classic "He's cheating!" Card when he was getting beat.

That's their trick every year it seems, suck for a few months to boot out the old coach and then suddenly be the best team in the league until the postseason starts and everybody forgets how to play. How many times have they done that since the Crosby/Malkin era? But yeah you're right, depth seems to be the #1 factor in determining the Cup winner. Since I started really watching hockey in 07ish, the deeper team won every year. Maaaaaybe the 09 Pens were more about just ludicrous star power with Fleury playing out of his mind and the obvious Crosby and Malkin and such, but then again my memory is a little fuzzy from that long ago, plus I remember Maxime Talbot winning Game 7 for them, so I could be wrong. But Detroit, every time Chicago and LA won, plus Boston. Every last one of those teams was deep as shit against a couple huge superstars.

Joel fuckin' Ward, man. I said before it was a huge mistake for the Caps to let him go, and I'll say it again. Great player.

Sucks to lose last night but the Pens didn't play the way they did the previous two. And San Jose played their balls off, to where I kept expecting them to hit a wall and be exhausted and suck, like the Rangers/Capitals did a bunch of times. They'd come out in the third guns blazing to try to tie it up/get something going and like halfway through they'd be drained.

Not too worried though. An off game for the Pens and the Sharks playing the game of their lives and they still barely won. Game 4 tomorrow night should be dope.

I may have lost a ton respect for Couture, but it seems as if the Sharks are not letting their curse be the deciding factor in the series. I wonder if they can pull this off.

Congrats to the Penguins! Happy to see Phil the Thrill finally have a cup!