Historic - Both Top NHL Seeds OUT in First Round
Apr 22, 2019 3:40:58 GMT 10
Post by RockyMountainExtreme on Apr 22, 2019 3:40:58 GMT 10
Going into the 2019 NHL playoffs, every hockey fan believed that the 2018-19 season would make history, believing that the Tampa Bay Lightning would complete the greatest season in NHL history. From a mile away, they clinched the Eastern Conference and tied the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (whom lost in the third round against the Colorado Avalanche) for most points in a single season, and their path to the finals through the Columbus Blue Jackets and then either the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs looked like a cakewalk, some predicted maybe the defending champion Washington Capitals could've given them trouble in the third round, but the odds were still in Tampa's favor and after that, they'd have an easy Calgary Flames team to take on in the Stanley Cup finals, nearly 50% of bracket predictions had the Lightning winning the Stanley Cup in what would've been the greatest season in NHL season, history was being made here...
...Or so we thought.... History has been made, but not at all in the way anybody predicted.
The Tampa Bay Lightning were instead swept, that's right, swept, in a series everyone predicted that they'd be doing the sweeping themselves.
The Columbus Blue Jackets won 4 in a row in a best of 7 against this so called "juggernaut", the Lightning were the first to clinch a playoff spot, and now they were the first to get knocked out of the playoffs, as this was just a bit before the New York Islanders would complete their 4 game sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins on the same day.
Immediately, Tampa Bay broke Twitter, humiliating memes came pouring in from all over the internet, UrinatingTree made a video about them, the Tampa Bay Lightning have just gone from the most revered contender to a laughing stock of the NHL.
But this was just the beginning of this historic chain of events.
Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the Calgary Flames had emerged as the top seed in the conference, and they, along with the aforementioned Lightning, they were the only two teams to reach 50 or more wins in the season. The Flames were a second favorite to win the cup, as their path through the western teams looked like even more of a cakewalk than the Lightning's, as the Flames wouldn't have had to run into a defending cup champion like the Lightning looked like they would've done against the Capitals. The 8th seed they were going against were the Colorado Avalanche (my team), whom barely squeaked into the playoffs and had less wins than the Montreal Canadiens whom failed to make the playoffs because the Eastern Conference is far harder to clinch than the Western Conference.
Well, the Flames shut us out in Game 1, and from there, it looked like my team was going to be swept. That game was just a wake up call, as all 4 games in a row after that, the Avalanche completed an aftersweep. Three days after 8th seed Columbus Blue Jackets knocked out top seed Tampa Bay Lightning in the east, the 8th seed Colorado Avalanche knocked out top seed Calgary Flames in the west. Goes to show, after all, snow extinguishes fire in real life, it's just logic that an Avalanche would extinguish Flames.
Now, both top seeds are gone. On top of that, the higher seeds Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, and Nashville Predators are on the brink of being eliminated by lower seeds Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, and Dallas Stars, and the lower seed St. Louis Blues have already knocked out the higher seed Winnipeg Jets.
Only the New York Islanders were a higher seed that has so far won in the first round, beating the lower seed Pittsburgh Penguins, and the higher seed and defending champions Washington Capitals have pushed the 7th seed Carolina Hurricanes to the brink. The Capitals will have home ice advantage for the rest of the season if all goes the way it seems to be going, and we could be looking at another back-to-back Stanley Cup Championship.
Also, with the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets out, that means the Toronto Maple Leafs are now Canada's only hope.
It'd be nice to see them break their 52 year curse and create a celebration in @slowpoke1993 's home town, plus they wouldn't have to visit Trump
link
...Or so we thought.... History has been made, but not at all in the way anybody predicted.
The Tampa Bay Lightning were instead swept, that's right, swept, in a series everyone predicted that they'd be doing the sweeping themselves.
The Columbus Blue Jackets won 4 in a row in a best of 7 against this so called "juggernaut", the Lightning were the first to clinch a playoff spot, and now they were the first to get knocked out of the playoffs, as this was just a bit before the New York Islanders would complete their 4 game sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins on the same day.
Immediately, Tampa Bay broke Twitter, humiliating memes came pouring in from all over the internet, UrinatingTree made a video about them, the Tampa Bay Lightning have just gone from the most revered contender to a laughing stock of the NHL.
But this was just the beginning of this historic chain of events.
Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the Calgary Flames had emerged as the top seed in the conference, and they, along with the aforementioned Lightning, they were the only two teams to reach 50 or more wins in the season. The Flames were a second favorite to win the cup, as their path through the western teams looked like even more of a cakewalk than the Lightning's, as the Flames wouldn't have had to run into a defending cup champion like the Lightning looked like they would've done against the Capitals. The 8th seed they were going against were the Colorado Avalanche (my team), whom barely squeaked into the playoffs and had less wins than the Montreal Canadiens whom failed to make the playoffs because the Eastern Conference is far harder to clinch than the Western Conference.
Well, the Flames shut us out in Game 1, and from there, it looked like my team was going to be swept. That game was just a wake up call, as all 4 games in a row after that, the Avalanche completed an aftersweep. Three days after 8th seed Columbus Blue Jackets knocked out top seed Tampa Bay Lightning in the east, the 8th seed Colorado Avalanche knocked out top seed Calgary Flames in the west. Goes to show, after all, snow extinguishes fire in real life, it's just logic that an Avalanche would extinguish Flames.
Now, both top seeds are gone. On top of that, the higher seeds Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, and Nashville Predators are on the brink of being eliminated by lower seeds Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, and Dallas Stars, and the lower seed St. Louis Blues have already knocked out the higher seed Winnipeg Jets.
Only the New York Islanders were a higher seed that has so far won in the first round, beating the lower seed Pittsburgh Penguins, and the higher seed and defending champions Washington Capitals have pushed the 7th seed Carolina Hurricanes to the brink. The Capitals will have home ice advantage for the rest of the season if all goes the way it seems to be going, and we could be looking at another back-to-back Stanley Cup Championship.
Also, with the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets out, that means the Toronto Maple Leafs are now Canada's only hope.
It'd be nice to see them break their 52 year curse and create a celebration in @slowpoke1993 's home town, plus they wouldn't have to visit Trump
link
