2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Stars recover from game 1 loss of Pavs and losing the game to making the Wild look silly.

 

Are the Oilers Oilering again?

 

Looks like it. Kings have been outplayed in four of the five periods so far, but somehow are up 1-0 in the series and are tied here.

 

Welp. No oil leaks tonight. #BeatLA

 

The only thing better than one Sebastian Aho scoring for your team ... is two Sebastian Ahos scoring for your team.

Also known as another Sebastian Aho power-play goal in Raleigh.

 

The Wild's decision to go with Fleury after Gustavsson played well in game 1 is getting absolutely roasted. Frankly, they were likely to lose game 2 no matter what, and using Fleury in that one gets the issue of him playing out of the way and makes it easier to play Gustavsson the rest of the series, so there may actually be a silver lining, but I rather doubt that was what Evason had in mind.

 

I think the Wild were in a major house money situation last night. If it works, they've got a 2-0 lead coming home with a rested goaltender and everyone's happy about playing time. It didn't work, but I don't think they would have won even if Gustavsson was in net.

 

Exactly - and not playing Gustavsson last night means there is no risk of him having to shake off a bad loss before games 3 and 4; winning both of those at home (hopefully with Hartman and/or Eriksson Ek back) is their best chance to take charge of the series. I do think Evason's in a tricky position with handling Fleury; everybody loves the guy but quite obviously he shouldn't be their #1 goalie right now.

 

Colorado with an, uh, avalanche of momentum. Two second-period goals in less than a minute to tie Game 2 at 2.

 

Kings-Oilers Game 3 ends in controversy. Play occurs at about 2:10 into this video.
Was it or wasn't it playing the puck with a high stick? The winning goal was scored maybe 10 seconds later.
Official ruling was: the violation was NOT called on the ice, replays were inclusive, so the call of a good goal stands, i.e. they couldn't decide if Vilardi's stick touched the puck or not. The puck hit Ekberg in the back on the way down, which, apparently didn't matter.
Question is, how far back do they rewind the game to video check a high-sticking violation? They don't rewind to check on uncalled slashing or holding penalties.
Of the 8 announcers, their opinions were all over the place. Some were wondering if high-sticking violations were reviewable. I wondered that, too.
For transparency, I don't care who wins this series. I don't like either team. I guess I don't like the Oilers more than I don't like the Kings.

 

I watched that replay over and over and could not tell if the puck hit the stick. As far as I could see, neither the spin nor the trajectory of the puck changed.

 

It’s that time of the year
The Sunday morning anchor in Tampa said about the Lightning: “We lost 3 to 4 in overtime.”
I resisted the urge to throw something through the TV screen