#the ridiculous shenanigans of nhl playoff hockey

[seedlessmuffins]

hello party people! the stanley cup playoffs start right now, so in an attempt to tempt y’all to watch, i have compiled a list of playoff moments that altered my brain chemistry (as someone who has watched the playoffs every year since 2010)! even if you don’t want to watch hockey, the sport is pretty ridiculous so here is just a small sample of the extent of the craziness!

washington capitals vs. pittsburgh penguins 2009 (round 2 game 2): hockey’s messi and ronaldo, sidney crosby and alex ovechkin put on a show for the washington crowd as they each score hattys in the same game. the capitals would go on to win the game, but the penguins would win the series (and later the cup), but this game has some of the best highlights as the two best players in hockey at their peaks showed off their skills for sexy, sexy hockey! 

chicago blackhawks vs. philadelphia flyers 2010 (round 4 game 6): in overtime of game 6 of the stanley cup finals, a chicago player scored the game winner to win the hawks the cup. the weird part? nobody saw it go in except the player and his teammates. the crowd, flyers, and broadcasters didn’t see it go in. known as the “phantom goal” this goal won the hawks their first cup in almost 50 years.

 vancouver canucks vs. chicago blackhawks 2011 (round 1 game 7): this is the game that made me fall in love with hockey. little 7-year-old me was glued to my television screen all night watching this game. the blackhawks and canucks had matched up in the playoffs for three years in a row, and the blackhawks (at the time the reigning cup champions) had beat the canucks every time. this series had gone the full 7 games, with the canucks winning the first 3 and the blackhawks coming from behind to win the next 3. earlier in game 7, hero alex burrows had opened the scoring then missed a penalty shot. with the game tied at 1, just over 5 minutes into overtime, burrows gets the puck and scores, defeating the blackhawks to send the canucks to the next round. they would go on to lose the cup in the final, but this was the golden generation of canucks games and the vibe in vancouver? unmatched. it gave birth to two of the most iconic radio calls: “they slayed the dragon” by john shorthouse, and “its a wonderful day for an exorcism” from jim hughston. this defined my childhood fr

boston bruins vs. toronto maple leafs 2013 (round 1 game 7): mere weeks after the tragedy at the boston marathon, the bruins were down 4-1 with just over 14 minutes to play in the 3rd period. they were down 4-2 with 9 minutes left. with two goals in 30 seconds, with less than 90 seconds remaining, the bruins tied the game and patrice bergeron won the game for the bruins in overtime. the maple leafs, having blown a 3 goal lead, ended their season. as of right now, they have not won a round of the playoffs since 2004.

tampa bay lightning vs. boston bruins 2018 (round 2 game 4): the playoffs can get quite scrappy! in order to get an advantage over his opponent after a little scrum, noted league rat brad marchand licked a man. yes fully licked. previously in the playoffs he had kissed and licked another man, and this caused the league to outlaw licking. the bruins would go on to lose the series, even though marchand continued his ridiculous antics

vegas golden knights vs. vancouver canucks 2020 (round 2 games 5-7): in 2020, the playoffs were played in a bubble at one arena with no spectators. after game 4, that the knights won, it was discovered that the canucks goalie jacob markstrom had an injury. with the knights leading the series 3-1, the canucks needed to win 3 games in a row to move on to the next round. enter thatcher demko, a rookie goalie who had never played a playoff game before. over games 5, 6 and 7, demko made 123 saves, including a 48 save shutout in game 6, to keep the canucks in until game 7. he stood on his head, he was incredible, and he went over 100 minutes without the knights scoring a goal. unfortunately, with a knights shutout in game 7, the canucks wouldn’t move on, but “bubble demko” would live in infamy as thatcher demko’s intro to playoff hockey. hes my favourite goalie 

pittsburgh penguins vs. new york rangers 2022 (round 1 game 1): as both teams were ready to fight it out in the playoffs, this game was tied at the end of three periods. in the playoffs, overtime lasts 20 minutes with 15 minute breaks between them. in the 3rd period of overtime, and the 6th period of hockey evgeni malkin scored for the penguins after over 90 minutes of hockey. it was midnight at madison square garden. the rangers goalie, igor shesterkin, made 79 saves in the loss, and the penguins goalie louis domingue, who came on in the second overtime to replace an injured casey desmith, went viral for reports that he ate spicy pork and broccoli between periods to keep up his energy. this is one of the longest games in nhl history, and the rangers would go on to win the series in 7 games. 

edmonton oilers vs. calgary flames 2022 (round 2 game 1): the battle of alberta is one of the classic rivalries of the nhl, and the first game of last year’s round 2 delivered. the goalies seemed to be unable to keep the puck out of the net, and flames and oilers fans both watched as the two teams combined for 15 goals, with the flames winning 9-6. the oilers would go on to win the series, but the sloppy, goal-heavy hockey has stuck in my mind ever since last may

these are some of my highlights! i hope you all enjoy the playoffs (because i know i will), and all the beard-growing and towel-twirling that comes along with them. happy stanley cup season everyone!

#k talks hockey #k the hockey prof??? #stanley cup playoffs #k converts her footie friends to hockey friends! #the ridiculous shenanigans of nhl playoff hockey #happy hockey hunger games besties! #k talks stanley cup playoffs

[nototherwisespecified]

4 and 26?

4. least favorite player? (aside from r*pists, racists, woman-beaters, harassers, & all of their leagues of apologists for the sake of my blood pressure) like, I just really fuckin don’t need matt fckn duchene. why is he. he’s got this blurry face. I don’t trust him. the person equivalent of condensed cream-of-mushroom soup. was weird & rude about the avs. like getting a bag of skittles but they’re all fuckin grape (wrong, bad, incorrect purple). my understanding is that I feel about him the way a lot of ncaa sports-following people feel about, like, duke university

26. how did you get started with hockey? I watched @thetrashpitals go through the 2018 playoffs, in which she went from a “oh, sports? sure” to a hockey forever & specifically go caps & fuck you in about 36 hours total, & then through a summer (comparatively short) of hockey withdrawal, & then sort of followed the caps through her as they had their very interesting early 2018-19 season (I remember getting like “wait no you like that one! that’s upsetting!” when kuzy & osh got concussions, & the Fury of early december), & one day, december 19th of 2018, the day before I was supposed to fly to my parents’ new place for christmas, I was like, okay, I’m gonna watch this caps-pens game that connie’s been RTing these ridiculous promos about (there was one of, like, slapshot running through offices yanking people’s writing implements from them, returning the pen & marker caps, & victoriously dumping the actual... pens, because the NHL is very clever), & within five minutes of puck drop whip was fighting oleksiak (then a pen) & later malkin was very upset because kuzy dared to speak russian to him while he was busy, & crosby yelled at ovi & ovi bellowed back & meanwhile highspeed knife boot shenanigans & me googling “icing” during timeouts & demanding of twitter to tell me how hockey offsides worked &

yeah

anyway now I’m going to caps prom in three weeks

[hockey asks but like I said patho calls]