5,000 Posts for a Flyers Cup in 2018!

[Maverick426h]

The cap ceiling for next season is said to be between $78 and $82 million. That leaves us with in the neighborhood of $20 million in cap space to sign or acquire only a couple of players, perhaps even just one. That's pretty intriguing.

What gets done with all of that extra money? That is the big question, because if Hagg is re-signed and guys like Morin and Myers make the team, our roster is set, minus maybe one upgrade over Filppula at center.

How soon will we be a legit Cup contender from the start? The moves that Hexy makes (or doesn't make) at the draft and this summer go a long way toward solving that one.

 

[Maverick426h]

NJ vs. Pitt tonight. How would we like this one to turn out?

If the goal is just to make the playoffs, we want the Pens to win in regulation.

If the goal is to win the division, we want the Devils to win in regulation.

We do now have the fortune of a little gap between us and NJ/Florida, but that game Sunday afternoon in Shitsburgh is looming large. Revenge is practically a necessity.

 

[Chris p Bacon]

You are making too much sense when you are not hitting the ......lol

It's called putting on my work face lol.

 

[Maverick426h]

The top two lines right now are looking pretty deadly. If they stay together and continue to improve, we will be a much better team next season. Filppula is soon gone. Get Simmonds healthy, find him another center, possibly winger too and there will be an absolute ton of potential for team greatness even just next season.

The objective is to have all of the younger guys grow, keep the top two lines intact and turn the third line into yet another scoring line. Perhaps Morgan Frost has a say in this as well. Or John Tavares...

Tons of options on defense and in net too, but we have the cap space and the currency to improve in both areas, if we see fit.

Upgrade from within or upgrade via trade and free agency? Either way, we will be a much-improved squad.

 

[Chris p Bacon]

NJ vs. Pitt tonight. How would we like this one to turn out?

If the goal is just to make the playoffs, we want the Pens to win in regulation.

If the goal is to win the division, we want the Devils to win in regulation.

We do now have the fortune of a little gap between us and NJ/Florida, but that game Sunday afternoon in Shitsburgh is looming large. Revenge is practically a necessity.

To be honest I would like to see the Pens lose all their games and miss out completely, don't want them in the playoffs as they've had our number lately. Realistically just put more room between us and Jersey.

 

[EVille3]

Gotta root for devils...still got a shot at home ice in first round

 

[Maverick426h]

And of course we get the worst possible result last night. 4-3 Devils in overtime...Lol

Got to beat Pittsburgh in regulation tomorrow or this talk of winning the division or getting home ice in round one will be nothing but a pipe dream. They have to win too for the same reasons.

Enormous game, not much more to say about it.

 

[Maverick426h]

A regulation win and we tie them with 90 points, but they pretty firmly own the tiebreaker.

Columbus is throwing a wrench into all of this though with 10 straight wins. They will have 91 points if they win again later tonight.

 

[Chris p Bacon]

UUUUGE Game today, We can leap frog into a tie with Shitsburgh for second place but I believe we hold the tiebreaker over them? Or maybe I'm thinking the Jackets? So potentially 2 teams. Hopefully Lyon plays a good game, team just needs to keep it simple for him(good luck) and he just needs to stay focused.

 

[Chris p Bacon]

I'm going with Laughton to score first.

 

[Maverick426h]

UUUUGE Game today, We can leap frog into a tie with Shitsburgh for second place but I believe we hold the tiebreaker over them? Or maybe I'm thinking the Jackets? So potentially 2 teams. Hopefully Lyon plays a good game, team just needs to keep it simple for him(good luck) and he just needs to stay focused.

Biggest game of the year, obviously. We can't afford to get swept by our most hated fucked rival. Even last season when we missed the playoffs and they went on to win the Cup, we beat them twice handily.

Shitsburgh owns the tiebreaker over us, unfortunately, by four regulation or OT wins. Columbus also owns the tiebreaker over us via goal differential by a measly four goals. They lost last night however and we can pass them today by one point.

 

[Maverick426h]

Either way, it's a difficult situation here with NJ and Florida continuing to win. We can't afford to choose what seed we end up with. All we can do is just collect the points, make the big dance and go from there.

I'd rather not get the 3rd seed and instead get the first wild card, but we don't have that luxury right now. Have to keep winning or potentially get knocked out altogether.

Washington looks like they have the division title locked up pretty well, but we beat them 3 out of 4 this season. I'm not so sure they want to see us in round one.

We need to continue to battle on the road here and then defend home ice and beat some weaker teams in April.

 

[Maverick426h]

Got to take Giroux all day long in this one. He's the man right now. 90 points and scorching hot this month with 16 already. Would love to see him somehow match his career high in this game. He needs another three point game to do it.

 

[Maverick426h]

Gorgeous goal by Sanheim to open the scoring. Proud and happy for this kid. He really needed that one. Monster goal!!

 

[Maverick426h]

I told my coworker, who is a Pittsburgh fan, that we would win this 5-3 and we currently trail 2-3.

Let's see if we can work that magic here and it starts with this power play.

 

[Maverick426h]

The power play connects and it's 3-3 through two periods.

Can't take anymore penalties. This has to be a clutch third period for us. Murray is clearly not in top form and neither is the Pens' defense. They can be had here for a couple more goals, certainly.

Also an opportunity for Mrazek here to shut the door the rest of the way and regain some footing in net.

I'd like to see Gudas do something other than ice the puck too.

We came ready to play in the first period and let them quickly steal the momentum. This time, ride the momentum we still have and finish strong all the way to the end.

The season is literally on the line here, it has to be desperation.

 

[Maverick426h]

Or we could let Crosby give them the lead just 20 seconds into the period...

Gudas still icing the puck and turning it over too. This guy might not play for us much longer at this rate.

Time to crank it up a notch and win this.

 

[Maverick426h]

Even the point we salvaged is critical, but we just saw why the Pens' tanking 12+ years ago to get Crosby is still very relevant. They absolutely do not win today without him. He fucking steals the game almost by himself because we have no answer.

Overtime was frustrating to watch as we rarely ever had possession of the puck.

It's also pretty demoralizing when we dominate a whole period while scoring two goals and they come back and score two in less than three minutes.

They are not going to win the Cup for a third straight season without better defense, but they certainly have the fucking quick-strike offense down.

 

[Maverick426h]

I think Murray may have gotten his game on track enough to be a difference yesterday too. We had 13 more shots, won 12 more faceoffs, drew an extra penalty, had more hits, fewer giveaways but still came up short. If you had told me all of this would happen before the game, I'd be expecting us to win, for sure.

Now we have to hope the Caps and Panthers lose on the road tonight. It's definitely possible, but we shall see.

 

[FlyerFinFan]

Yeah it really is too bad three penalties in a row killed them. Jake can't take the one he did...but at least they came back showed heart.