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The Leafs are hitting hard and Pasta got smoked hard but Bos had some decent hits too. I'd say the Bruins out chanced them but the Leafs look more dangerous. The Bruins have had a ton of what I'd call far misses where they are in the correct danger spots but the puck isnt going right to them to have the play work out. Its like they are slightly out of synch.

Pastrnak is useless 0-0 heading into the third

Boston has been really poor at getting the puck out of their zone after gaining possession. Leafs get possession and they breakout three deep. I'm nervous

Hmm, well now Woll is out and Mr my tummy hurts is back in so I doubt the Leafs have a chance in this game. Ironically I tend to think they have a better chance without Mathews.

This Leaf game should be interesting. Outside of who wins, what will the game itself be like? Will it be a 6-5 barn burner or a 5-1 routing; or a 2-1 game? No clue what will happen but I'm thinking 1 team will totally collapse but who knows.

I agree that is should be a little more wide open series than Nashville as Edmonton plays more of a run and gun style because of their talent. It should be a fun series.

Edmonton is no where near as physical as Nashville. Edmonton's game strategy is about puck possession and getting the puck up ice like a tornado. Bashville is all about hard hits, grinding play, elbows, cross checking and causing as much physical harm as possible. I agree that Edmonton is a stronger team but the Canucks have weapons too and I think they will have opportunities to use those weapons this series.

I was watching a Canuck player being interviewed after the game and couldn't help but notice Pettersson walk by in a t-shirt. He is skinny. There has been a lot of discussion about size and drafting players and while Peterrsson is reasonably tall, there isn't much meat there. You wonder if the tough physical grind of the playoffs will just wear him down whereas a guy like Draisaitl is so tough to handle because of his strength. I really like the Oilers in this series but I also liked Winnipeg in the other series and we saw how that turned out. LOL

I think Catton is really impressive, so he is only 5 foot 10 (listed at 5 ' 11" but 10 is probably closer). He has the skill, drive and hockey IQ to more than make up for it. He is driven. A guy that caught my attention today watching the U18 game was Ryder Ritchie. An excellent skater, one of the younger guys in the draft, projected to go in the 20's in a lot of mock drafts. I really liked what I saw, maybe with the Winnipeg pick. He was hurt early in the year so that probably dropped his ranking a bit.

Pronman on Catton; Revisiting the 2019 NHL Draft: Cole Caufield, Kaapo Kakko and lessons learned - The Athletic "Even though the player style is very different, the one guy whom I can best analogize Caufield to in this year’s draft is Berkly Catton. Catton measures in at 5-foot-10, but everything else about his game is excellent. He’s a high-end skater. He is extremely skilled. He competes well. He put up huge numbers in his draft season. He had very good numbers as a 16-year-old. He led his Hlinka Gretzky in goals and points. He was one of the best players at his U17 challenge. Like Caufield, I don’t think it’s worth overthinking Catton; just pick the supremely talented player who has dominated his age group for years and, yes, is a bit small.

I'm thinking Pettersson is but 1 hit away from being rendered completely ineffective. To put him into perspective: he's 6'2" 176 lbs so he's got 6" on Caufield but he's only 1 lbs heavier. Hughes kept getting hammered by the Preds so there's no way he's at 100%. I don't imagine their next series will go to 6 games.

Fox played an extra year of college. 3 vs 2 for Hutson.

Vincenz Rohrer will play for Austria at the Worlds. David Reinbacher, somewhat surprisingly, won't due to injury.

But until the pre-season, there is no need to give a regular spot on the NHL roster to Hutson. Let him show us and awe us a bit more before giving him a spot. What happened to “earning your minutes”?

Don't forget Dave Semenko.

I clearly want Edmonton to win for a couple reasons: 1) I live in Edmonton, so I cheer for the Oilers if the Habs aren't in it but I certainly don't lose any sleep if the Oilers lose, my attachment is marginal 2) If the Oilers win then it improves the Winnipeg pick by 1 spot The Canucks simply can't afford to taken any bad penalties as the Oiler power play is so dangerous. A lot depends on Skinner, he played really well against LA. I don't think you can say Silvos is significantly better than Skinner based on such a small sample size although it wouldn't be the first time a rookie goalie came out of nowhere to shine in the playoffs. I get why people are more likely to cheer for Vancouver, they are the underdog (although they had more points), have never won the cup before etc etc should be a fun series. McDavid is very motivated.

For the sake of the Habs I hope he pans out. but yes, it would be funny on the forum if he didn’t

Same, mostly because franchise has never won a cup. McDavid 5 games 12 points (Draisaitl 10) already, will he stay hot and kill the Canucks?

If Silvos plays like he did last night then Canucks have a chance. Im banking on Pettersson having the room to make a significant impact this series as well. If Hughes can fly and Pettersson can fly then Skinner is in trouble. I clearly want the Canucks to win 🏆

Good to see Canucks move on and 3rd stringer play surprisingly solid with huge shutout, but vs Oilers i dont like Canuck chances.

Engstrom/Guhle/Harris are 'able' to play RH-d if need be (not preferred of course), if do trade Barron, Kovacevic or Savard. Hutson isnt a normal d-prospect and I dont think his 2 points & 22:43/game in 2 NHL games is a "Poehling-like" start to NHL career. More like an Adam Fox, who jumped from NCAA to NHL with 42point rookie season, is my guess.

I think Pettersson and Hughes will have significantly more room to move and create plays. I also think Vancouver has significantly better goaltending - be it Silvos or Demko. Of course, Vancouver better stay out of the box because Edmonton is dangerous

U18 leaders. Hagens with 3a (22pts is USA tournament record), Hutson 1g1a so far today. Eiserman gets 2 goals so far today for 126 and ties Cole Caufield for USA record. (maybe who cares if he cant or dosent care to defend a lick... maybe?)

Slafkovski didnt dress for Slovakia vs Poland warm up game yesterday.

Not only was I on a BC Ferry during the game, but it was an older model of ferry with no TV hookup. So I was reduced to following the game via spotty cell reception - actually missed Suter’s goal. Oh well. I was glad they started Silovs. I liked his swagger in the earlier games. He just seems to have that “it” factor that some guys have. That was an absolute meat-grinder of a series; almost a caricature of NHL playoff hockey (right down to the bizarre refereeing that is always a talking point at this time of year). Obviously the Canucks will not be favourites against mighty Edmonton - BUT. It will be a wildly different series and might come as a relief to Vancouver. Plus Van has zero pressure now, while EDM has a ton of it. Vancouver is also an elite defensive team capable of grinding with the best of them. If they can get Pettersson going - a big “if” - and if they can continue to get stellar netminding - another big “if” - then an upset is far from impossible.