The Bruins and the Whalers are playing game four at this very moment. We are losing 2-1 in the second period.
Remember the other day when I wrote a post telling the Bruins they needed to step it up and win game three?
This is me doing it again. Come on, Bruins, let’s pick it up.
Go Bruins!
ADDENDUM: The Bruins scored! It’s tied at two after two periods. Keep it up, Bruins!
ADDENDUM 2: The Bruins won 5-2 and tied the series at two games a piece. You’re welcome, Bruins fans.
It’s almost 2:00pm and I am just getting to lunch now. When I say lunch, of course, I mean liquid lunch. I just had me a protein shake. Yummy. Will it still be yummy after tomorrow? Who the hell knows!
3.5 hours left in my work day and then I go on leave for a month. I am having a tough time wrapping my brain around that. A whole month away from work is just… weird.
It’s really loud in my yard right now. There’s a huge ass riding lawn mower tearing around like a madman. I forgot we booked a lawn service this year. It’s a good thing because we kinda don’t have a lawn mower of our own at the moment, and for the next month or so I am going to be no good to anyone.
The Bruins lost game one last night. Game two is tomorrow. I am guessing I won’t be terribly interested in watching. You know, other stuff going on.
Still no phone call telling me when to show up tomorrow. They said to expect the call between 3:00 and 8:00pm, so I am not worried… yet.
When am I going to be able to watch MoonKnight tomorrow? Do you think Disney+ will let me see it today? No? Even if I ask Mickey Mouse directly? No? Aww.
Musiciansfriend is going to deliver a new delay pedal tomorrow. I don’t expect to be able to play through it right away. You know how it is, right?
My wife Jennifer is my rock. I just wanted to share that. I couldn’t do any of this without her. She’s amazing and I am so in love with her.
What else… I don’t know. I am sure I had a reason to start typing this and I am equally sure that nothing I’ve written here has anything to do with whatever that reason was. I know that, even though I really don’t know what the reason I started this actually is. My 51st birthday is this weekend. I’d tell you all not to get old, but the alternative is really a lot worse so I won’t.
To do list for tonight:
My friends Larry and Mike have already gotten in touch. I got a text from Larry this morning wishing me luck. Last night I got a call from Mike. He’s been through this already and he gave me some advice for the recovery.
They told me not to wear any jewelry tomorrow. That means no wedding ring and no watch. I’m not sure what to do with my glasses. Maybe I’ll bring the case and ask Jen to hold on to them for me.
I’m not freaking out. Not really. I think I just want it to be over with so I can move on to the next stage. As scary as all of this is, it’s a good thing and I will have no regrets.
Okay, back to work for the home stretch.
For your Information:
Do you realize the NHL playoffs start in about an hour an a half? The post season kicks off with the Bruins and the Carolina Hartford Whalers Hurricanes*. Game one starts at 7:00**PM in whatever North Carolina city passes for Hartford these days.
All together now… Go Bruins!
*The NHL schedule says 7:00PM so, what… 7:35? 7:40? Whatever.
**No, I will not stop making smart*** ass Whaler cracks at the Hurricanes. I don’t care how much you beg me to stop, I will never stop.
***Smart?
Well folks, we’ve come to the end of another NHL Stanley Cup Playoff run and while we are all sad that the Boston Bruins did not win, we are all happy that the Montreal Canadiens didn’t win either.
The only question left is how did I do with my predictions, and did I do better than random chance? No. No I did not.
I tried to predict the outcome of every playoff series. I predicted the Lightning would win the Final and I was right. That gives me a painfully mediocre, but still on the winning side, record of eight correct and seven incorrect predictions. 8-7. My winning percentage is 53.3%. I’ll take it.
I also tested random selection by flipping a coin for some of the series. I excluded the three matchups that only had teams in the Bruins’ division. Two from the first round and one from the second. The coin flip also picked Tampa Bay in the Final so it ended the tournament with a record of eight correct and four incorrect. 8-4. The coin’s winning percentage was a staggering 66.7% It was right on two out of every three. So much for randomness, huh? What a jerk!
So now what? Barring any more Covid-19 shenanigans we should have an expansion draft and an entry draft and a free agency period this summer, followed by training camps in the fall and a new season in October. You know, the way things used to go prior to Covid-19’s colossal screwing. My hope for the summer is that the Bruins draft the best rookies and snag the best free agents and sometime next June they win another Stanley Cup. I don’t think that’s asking for too much, do you?
I don’t see a lot of highlight clips from tonight’s game on the youtubes yet. This is the best I could do. All the goals are here, and all the noteworthy plays are here, but the one you want starts at 13:52.
The word you’re looking for is “gaffe”. I loved every second of this play. The Montreal defenseman was asleep at the wheel. Price in net must have been thinking about where he was going to go after the game ended, because he sure as hell wasn’t paying attention.
Maybe we have two more games filled with bone head plays by the Canadiens.
Good job, Tampa Bay. Even if they did outplay you all night.
Full disclosure. I have the game on the TV with the sound muted. At the same time I’m watching it, I’m also watching an old local access cable episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the original Gamera!). So I am not paying full attention to the game.
Having said that, literally every time I look up Montreal is dominating. After two periods they lead the shot count 29 to 13. Fortunately for those who stand against evil, Tampa Bay is winner where it counts. 2-1 after two, thanks to a crazy diving goal in the final second of the period. Sweet.
Come on, Tampa Bay. Let’s put these evil bastards away quick and get this one over with.
No score after one period. Montreal is controlling the puck way too much for my liking.
Come on, Tampa Bay. Let’s get the show on the road, okay? Enough of this shit.
I promise I am not going to give score updates after each period throughout this Stanley Cup Final series.
I am probably going to do it a lot though. I really, really want Montreal to lose.
In case you didn’t catch that, I really, really want Montreal to lose.
Game one, one period is in the books, and the Lightning lead 1-0. So far so good.
Game one of the Stanley Cup Final is underway. It’s time. Time to end the reign of evil. Time for Tampa Bay to start putting Montreal away.
It’s a best of seven series. Anything less than a Tampa Bay sweep is flirting with danger. Beat them soundly, Lightning. The world is counting on you.
We are in seriously dangerous territory. Montreal is in the finals. 28 NHL teams have failed in the world’s quest to keep Montreal from winning another Cup. There is only one team left who can stop this madness and it just happens to be the defending Stanley Cup Champs.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before we talk about defeating the evil, let’s look at how my predictions have done thus far. Also, I flipped a coin for all but the first two round’s Northeast Division series so let’s see how the coin is doing (hint, the coin is doing better than I am).
After the first round my winning percentage was exactly .500. Six correct pics and six incorrect picks. 6-6. Pretty much the text book definition of mediocrity. The coin, with three fewer picks made, has a winning record at 5-4.
How did we do in the third round?
Lightning vs Islanders. It came down to a game seven but Tampa Bay was able to make both me and the coin look smart. We both picked Tampa so we were both right. I’m up to 7-6 and the coin is 6-4.
Golden Knights vs Canadiens. The horror. The horror. The horror. I picked Vegas because I hate the Canadiens with a passion that cannot be put into words. The coin sided with evil and picked Montreal. The coin was right (7-4) and I was heartbreakingly wrong (7-7).
And finally (pun definitely intended)……..
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens: So now we’ve arrived at the finals. There is so much more at stake than just the Cup, or my picks, or experiments in random selection, or anything like that. No, the fate of the universe is at stake. This isn’t hockey anymore, this is good vs evil with the defending champions the Tampa Bay Lightning on the side of good, and the vile, hated Montreal Canadiens on the side of evil. This is literally Luke “Lightning” Skywalker vs Darth “Les Habitants” Vader. Clearly I am picking Tampa Bay because I stand against evil whenever I can. The coin, who has picked Montreal twice now, picks (heads for the higher seed, which according to the NHL iOS app is Tampa Bay) Tampa Bay! The coin finally chooses to side against the evil ones! Thanks, coin!
Game one is Monday night. If Tampa Bay wins I will finish the playoffs with an 8-7 record and I’ll get to pat myself on the back for finishing with a winning record. If I lose I’ll finish 7-8 but it won’t matter because the universe will have collapsed into evil and madness so no one will notice my awful prediction skills. The coin will end up with a winning record either way, because it’s an asshole.
GO LIGHTNING!
Inside the Red Head's Head 