Tag: stanley cup playoffs

Tampa Bay Takes Game Two

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDNfZFZts0

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.

Stanly Cup Final – Game Two – Second Intermission

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.

Game One – First Intermission

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 On – Game One

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.

Hockey Depression

The Montreal Canadiens have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. As if life weren’t difficult enough already.

They beat Vegas in overtime last night. It’s Montreal’s first trip to the finals since 1993. It’s the first Canadian team to make the finals since 2011 when the heroic, glorious Boston Bruins beat Vancouver.

For my money, anything short of a Bruins cup win feels like misery. The only way it could be worse is if the Montreal Canadiens win it. The last Bruins cup was in 2011. The last Canadiens cup was in 1993. The fact that their drought has been longer than ours is a literally a source of bliss for me. It’s the only thing that can soothe the pain of the Bruins not being the champs. Remember a couple of years ago when the Bruins lost in the finals to St Louis (gag)? As heart breaking and gut wrenching as that loss was, at least we could still say that we had won more recently than Montreal.

The other semi final series has its game seven tonight. Tampa Bay vs Long Island. I am still very much in Tampa’s corner, but if the Islanders should win it and advance to the finals I will be 100% an Islanders fan for a couple of weeks. Even though they are the bastards who eliminated my Bruins, and even though they are from (gag) New York.

As Princess Leia once said (via a hologram stored in R2-D2) to Obi-Wan Kenobi, “this is our most desperate hour.” The Montreal Canadiens must be stopped. They must be stopped!

Hockey Stuff

I haven’t been stressing over hockey much because I have been stressing over real life. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping an eye on things, it just means I haven’t been hanging on every moment.

The Bruins are down three games to two against the Islanders. Apparently we have a goalie controversy now? You miss stuff like that when you aren’t following the press too closely. Game six is tonight and lots of smart hockey pundits are calling for a rookie back up to start in place of Tuukka Rask. We are facing elimination and must win tonight to stay alive.

And we must stay alive.

Not just because I’m a Bruins fan and want my team to keep playing, and not just because I picked the B’s to advance in my predictions post but…

…but…

Montreal.

The Canadians have already advanced to the third round. As ridiculous as that sounds, it poses an interesting possibility*

The Bruins are in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens are in the Western Conference, thanks Covid-19.

There is still a chance that the Stanley Cup Finals could be a match up between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens. I don’t know if the rest of the NHL sees that as the greatest rivalry in the league, but I sure do. This is the Hockey equivalent of Red Sox vs Yankees. There is also one additional reason to want this finals matchup.

Payback.

The Bruins and Canadiens met in the finals a couple of times in the mid/late 70’s. The Canadiens won each time. We could get some payback. I don’t remember those Finals series. I didn’t start paying close attention until some time in the 80’s. I remember the year that the Bruins finally broke their infinite streak of playoff loses to Montreal. I remember what a big deal that was for us. Losing twice in the Finals was part of that, and we’ve beaten them a few times since, including a round in the 2011 Cup championship season… but guys… we could get some payback in the Finals.

Goodness gracious, kids… we have to win tonight. We have to win the series. We have to beat Tampa Bay in the next round. We have to be there waiting on the off chance Montreal can advance too (they won’t, Colorado will destroy them). There’s a chance… we need that to come true.

Go Bruins! Please, go Bruins! Stay alive, no matter what occurs!

*I understand that literally every Bruins fan on Earth has already thought of this. Give me a break, folks. There’s a lot of shit going on that’s more important than hockey. Forgive me for being late to the party.

Nana Sitting – One Day Early

Tomorrow night was supposed to be my next Nana Sitting night, but my brother and I swapped so I could go to Vermont on Tuesday and he could go to his daughter’s soccer games near the Cape tomorrow. I got here about 6:40 and my mother was asleep. My sister woke her up to say goodbye and she immediately fell back to sleep. She woke up as I was walking into her room to give her the 8:00pm meds. She’s heating up some leftovers for dinner now. I have a feeling it’s going to be a late night, but hopefully it’s a late night with manageable pain levels. Fingers crossed.

I watched the third period of the Lightning/Hurricanes game. As expected, Tampa Bay won. The Avalanche/Golden Knights game just started and the Avs are already up 1-0. As expected.

We had a very nice low key anniversary today. We went to a bakery in Windham that the kids clued us in to and picked up our anniversary cake. Then we just went for a drive. It was lovely. It dawned on me that as I am now 50 years old, driving around to nowhere on a Sunday morning officially makes me a “Sunday Driver”. I joked about trying to find a Bennigans or a Waffle House and Jen joked back that we should go to Cracker Barrel. Getting old sucks, but if you can’t crack wise at your own expense, what good is it?

The Avalanche just scored again. 2-0, halfway through the first.

When we got home the kids came over for an hour or so. We ate the fantastic cake and just spent some quality family time. It was awesome. Unfortunately, I think that’s the last time the four of us will be together before Bellana moves into her apartment in Vermont. We’ll see her tomorrow, but Harry won’t be there. If I stop and think about that, it’s painful. Instead I am choosing not to think about it. I’m choosing to focus on today.

Now I’m here at my mother’s house and I am missing my bride like crazy.

I love you, Jen.

Definitely Asleep

I’m hearing the sweet, sweet sounds of snoring coming from my mother’s room. She’s asleep. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but now that it has… relief. My mother called my father at the hospital right when all of this shite was kicking off, a little before 9:00. We spoke a little. He had suggestions for things to do to try to help and I was already on them. We were definitely on the same page. He called back a few minutes ago. When I told him she was asleep he sounded as relieved as I felt. I hope he’s able to get some sleep now too.

Vegas is up 5-2 now. Five minutes left in the third. When this game ends, however it ends, it will leave Toronto and Montreal as the only first round series left. I can’t really root for both of those teams to lose, can I?

I’m really tired but I’m a little afraid to go to bed. I’m not sure what to do after this game ends (Vegas just scored into an empty net to make it 6-2. I have the sound off and this is literally the first non-Bruins game I’ve watched this season. Apparently whoever scored that empty net goal completed a hat trick. It’s raining hats in Vegas). I still have the last 15 minutes of today’s That Pedal Show to get through, but that will require headphones and that scares me a little. Maybe I’ll risk it.

Things are looking good right now but my fingers are still totally crossed.

Things May Be Calming Down

My mother is still awake, but I think things are calming down. The crying and praying has stopped, I think. She is still standing up in the bedroom with the light and the TV on, but she seems to be managing. She actually just went out to the kitchen for a snack. That was a surprise.

I had been watching That Pedal Show on my laptop while the Red Sox were on the TV with the sound all the way down. They went into a rain delay just after the problems started. I have game seven of the Minnesota/Vegas first round series on the tube now. I’m afraid to finish the youtube show. I feel like the minute I put my AirPods back in something bad will happen. I don’t want to jinx anything,

Vegas is up 3-2 in the 2nd. I think I picked Vegas, didn’t I? Speaking of picks, The Bruins second round series against the Islanders starts tomorrow even though the Toronto vs Montreal first round series is still going. Our game one is tomorrow, their game six is tomorrow too. I won’t do a second round prediction post until after all of the matchups are finalized but I’ll be sure to post something about my picks for the 2nd round series that start before the 1st round is 100% over. You can probably bet that I will pick Boston to win their series. You’d win that bet.

Vegas just scored again. It’s 4-2 now.

My mother is lying down. The lights and the TV are still on but I can poke my head around the corner and see her. Fingers crossed she falls asleep. She’s earned it tonight. I should have seen this coming. It’s raining out and she doesn’t do well with whatever the air pressure does when it rains. The forecast is calling for rain all weekend. Shit.

Either a truck just bounced off a pothole (which is very possible on my parents’ street where the construction crews have left it looking like London during The Blitz [not really, that’s a huge exaggeration, but the road is a mess]) or I just heard some thunder. Oh yippee. That’s all we need.

Hang in there, Mom.