A lot happened over the weekend with marquee matchups out East in the NHL, everyone getting fleeced by amateur boxers (again), Super Leagues across the pond and early tanking happening in the MLB. The NBA is also gearing up for the playoffs and the new play-in format might actually keep my attention (probably not). Let’s get into it.
NHL
What an absolute shame the Avs caught Covid in the middle of a 17-2 run. They’re still in the catbird’s seat with a game in hand out west, but the Golden Knights are also a wagon and won’t give us any leeway. It feels a bit like an inside job to get Vegas back in the conversation, but I won’t actually take that stance because that would be insane. What sports league would sabotage its hottest team to add more drama…
Staying out west, the Coyotes got, what feels like, a must win over the Blues on Saturday to put them in the last playoff spot. The Blues still have 2 games in hand on the Coyotes, so they still very much control their own destiny; but with a 2 game set vs the Avs, followed by 5 straight games against the Wild and a 2 game series vs the Golden Knights, the Blues have an uphill battle to get that last spot back. Meanwhile, the ‘yotes have 5 games against playoff teams and a couple dates with the Kings and Sharks to end their season.
Heading out East…or Central I guess…the Florida Panthers proved they are legitimate contenders by getting 3 points in a 2 game series vs the defending champs, Tampa Bay Lightning, on the road. It’s going to be an interesting 3-team race for first between Carolina, Florida and Tampa Bay with Carolina leading Florida by 1 point and Tampa Bay by 2 points with 2 games in hand on the Panthers and one on the Lightning. Carolina goes through the gauntlet this week, with 2 game sets vs the Lighting and Panthers on the road. I still think the Dallas Stars are the 4th best team in this division, they’re 3 points behind the Nashville Predators with 3 games in hand on them, but these two will face off one more time before the end of the season on May 1st in what will feel like a playoff game, Let’s goooo!!
On Sunday the Bruins absolutely shitpumped the Caps to stay in 4th place in the East and widen the gap between themselves and the Rangers. This will be a fun division to watch down the stretch with 4 teams within 6 points from each other and the team 6 points back (Boston) has 3 games in hand on the leader (Washington) and has won 4 straight.
I’m a self-admitted fairweather hockey fan, so if anyone has anything to add, please help, I appreciates ya.
Jake Paul
Ben Askrin showed up with muffin tops and man boobies and people expected him to put up a fight against Jake Paul? This had Jose Conseco vs Billy Football written all over it, yet us Americans were dumb enough to fork over our money again. As a degenerate, I won’t speak out against sports betting, but I do think we’ll see more staged spectacles like this where amateurs take dives for a massive paycheck. I’ll just stick to Rough ‘n’ Rowdy (no free ads), thank you very much.
Super Leagues
The Euro leagues are trying to cuck College Football by creating a super league where only the elite can participate. In no way am I a footy fan, however, as a brand new, non-bandwagon Liverpool fan, this is clearly a disgrace to the champions league and its qualifying criteria. This Super League would make the Champions League the Idaho Potato Bowl (shoutout Josh Allen, Idaho Potato Bowl MVP).
MLB
I already dismissed my Rockies fandom, but even if I hadn’t, I’d still be embarrassed of this sorry excuse of a minor league team. Save Trevor Story’s career and trade him to a contender for pennies of the dollar like you always do and add another rooftop bar in left field too, money hungry losers. I just feel bad for Bud Black who is absolutely going to be the scapegoat for this season while they inexcusably resign Jeff Bridich and Dick Monfort for some reason keeps the team. Rant over.
The Dodgers took 2 from the Padres on the road and it pains me to write this is the actual rivalry out west. Not that the Rockies ever contended with the Dodgers, but for half a minute it felt like we could compete if we got some pitching (same song and dance as every year) a few years ago. The Rockies’ narrow window already shut 3 years ago after we lost to the Brewers in the divisional round, pathetic. Didn’t mean to turn that into another Rockies rant, but this is the view from a pessimistic, clearly out of contention baseball fan.
NBA
Alright, I might actually start paying attention to the NBA because I forgot about the play-in games they implemented this year where the top 6 seeds from each conference makes the playoffs while the 7th-10th seeds play a tournament to get into the playoffs. The play-in games go like this: the 7th seed plays the 8th seed, the winner gets the 7th seed in the playoffs and the loser gets another chance to earn the 8th seed. The 9th seed plays the 10th seed, the winner gets to play the loser of the 7/8th seed game while the loser gets a chance at the lottery. The winner of the last game of the play-in tournament gets the 8th seed and the loser gets a chance at the lottery. I love this system and might actually get borderline fans like me to pay attention to the NBA leading up to the playoffs when teams out of contention start tanking and teams in contention start resting their starters. Now there’s an added emphasis on getting at least the 6th seed or, at the very least, getting some momentum leading up to this whacky play-in tournament.
Have a great Monday everyone!
The Morning Flush 