Immediately antagonizing the refs from the bench after his coach tells team to stuff it? Finding each and every way to the ice as he channels McDavid's embellishment but not his skill? Being an absurd locker room human? MushSmushes? Marchment is a man of multitudes, and I will miss the comedy.

I will miss the blue eyed ice troll for his commitment to the bit, if nothing else. They were never going to be able to the full WTF forward lineup together for budget reasons alone, and he's a reasonable fall guy given the Finn shaped upgrade. Now about heaving Dumba into the pit of Washed Up...

It's amazing what happens when your goalie doesn't consistently blink first. (He was so damn good the first two rounds, and honestly a lot of Games 2-5 is probably that horribly timed URI. But the difference in the chance-to-goal-against ratio was staggering.)

I don't know why the hockey gods hate Dallas so much against WCF goalies in particular. Even in 2020 it was like pulling teeth.

Happy for Dallas youth hockey legend Seth Jones (one day the hockey media will stop crediting his formative hockey years to Denver, I swear)

Also, screw the Oilers to perpetuity.

Five down. Finally.

But until they build a better defense that doesn't rely on 35 minutes a night from Esa and Cody Ceci as second pair shutdown pals, they'll be in the same boat. If you can't possess and transition, you're gonna struggle deep in the playoffs or if your goalie urps for a series. That one's all Nill.

I don't mind the DeBoer move. He was right that Jake was part of the problem at that point, but when you scratch/pull any core guy you've got to actually debrief them about it soon afterward to maintain necessary relationships. You let that fester this long, and it's on you dude.

Per @tiffin.bsky.social this is the first part of the DeBoer quote about the pull. Comes right before the part more widely circulated to this point.

I hope Jake takes the pull as a wake up call. He's so damn talented. He was great through two rounds, a huge reason they got there. He stole so many wins in the season. And then he crumbled, again, in the biggest moment. He has to find a way to not go 0.851 in the WCF.

They're a top four team in for multiple years while turning over their core, even in the setting of needing a key players deeply needing sports psychologist for and trying to fill defense holes with Literally Dumba and Ceci. It's so much more than I would have expected. It's utterly frustrating.

I'm old enough to remember the bankruptcy years, the pesky stars, losing a playoff series where you get 3 shutout wins etc. While this sucks ass, 3 straight WCF appearances and meaningful hockey lasting til the very end of May is pretty cool with a young core still intact. On to next season.

(I wouldn't have pulled Jake because DeSmith isn't a better option overall. But they're gonna have to figure out how to get him a backup they can play in the playoffs, because the same story keeps happening. A fun but flawed team from the back all the way out.)

Last crabby post before I go back to the babies, who deserve me more than that grumpiness. I've said they'll go as far as Jake takes them, and I stand by that. He's drug them (this season even) kicking and screaming to wins they had no business in. He has to be able to be that guy when it matters.

The sixth floor is displeased. Wyatt Johsnton where art thou? Or any other secondary scoring? (If you need to hold a team to 1 or 0 goals, you have to be able to. The Oilers only scored twice* and won. Their defense/goalie weathers key storms while ill timed goals continue to haunt Dallas.)

Save% of .876 this series, facing a max of 27 shots. No single game over .900 (had only one in the prior rounds under that). You gotta put pucks in the net, but you also gotta give yourself a chance. He has the talent to turn it around. Does he have the mental game?* *applicable to most everyone

Getting soundly out-goalied by Stuart Skinner and mentally collapsing from it is a familiar script. Can't allow 3 goals on 18 shots when you're dominating chances. Can't allow a goal with 19 seconds left in a period. Being great in early rounds doesn't mean anything if you can't sustain.

Also, I'm just going to blame that on the fact they've gotten so used to the stupid late start times that they didn't show up until what would have been puck drop in their prior series.

This team is the definition of the most dumb. Often (sometimes) in the best way?

Four down, the most important countdown of the spring.

I knew the hockey gods wouldn't spite them this game (like, you know, some games this series) because this didn't pinball off Jake back into his net and Swiss cheesed its way through him

Also, for the record, what a great Jake. Three down.

I had an awful week at work with the babies (hug your babies and don't sleep in bed with them) and have been down and sad and this doesn't fix all those terrible things but its a sports something special. Thank you, my greenest of idiots.

These precious precious boys led by their high school physics teacher wunderkind

I, for one, welcome our new and eternal Finnish overlords. (That's the type of Jake night I can heartily enjoy. Yes a bad one but so much more good in the key moments. Good Jake, you too can be an honorary Finn.)

True facts from everyone's favorite middle aged high school physics teacher.

I need people to appreciate the last post and also explain to me our new defensive stalwart Cody Ceci.

Maybe they finally realized it wasn't Jamie's 400th, so they didn't have to call it back.

(I am not with the babies today, but they seem to do better when I'm on social media silence during a game so in the grand tradition of kitchen rules it will continue.)

We have a naked moose today.

I am never going to complain about a Moose Stomping. He can put up 3-4 points a game from now to eternity.

So happy to wake up this am for my early o'clock arrival time to see the Mikko Rantanen Revenge Tour continues.

Winterpig what are you doing?

A tradition like no other. Also this is by far the best clip of the crowd after that third goal. Hearing the prolonged roar, remembering the days of bankruptcy and the ambassador of fun and so very many empty seats for a few years... Sports are so good sometimes, y'all.

I love when there are so many profanity bleeps. It's directly proportional to how happy a hockey player is at any given moment.

2 in OT and 2 with hat tricks against. Just 👨‍🍳😘 stuff here. #TexasHockey

Okay, time for highlight reel bullet points from the call room: Rantanen went from all business after the first goal to screaming with delight after the third. My heart is so full. That power play set cross-crease pass to Johnston is so good, and Duchene's stick language was filthy as hell.

They beat the favored team without their best* forward and best defenseman and got petty revenge Moose revenge along the way. They even survived the inevitable dumb Jamie Benn penalty. I can't even, you guys. Someone send hats to the sixth floor call room.

Where’s all the Avs fans talking about how many points he had after two games

The babies are not only pleased, they are hyped to know that Nathan MacKinnin has never done anything notable in their entire lifespans

One down.

Given the lower floor is a disaster (though the upper floor is behaving, miracle off miracles), I need a quick summary while I wait for highlights and an escape off the unit. I accept haikus, memes, and ulcer-inducing playoff feels.

The babies (and my exhausted self with 10 calls in 5 weeks) are quite pleased. Good job pleasing the babies, green team.

Final night thoughts - What a good Jake. Tyler Seguin outracing a dude on his surgically repaired hip and roofing it in stride is so heartwarming I can't even stand it. Get that man a rubber duck. Esa, my whipping boy for years prior to the arrival of Bowness, is all grown up and saving China.

Second thought, this picture is everything with a bonus surrender cobra in the background.

Okay got to the call room to watch the highlights. Most pressing question - were the fans of the team that had 6 power plays to 3, including a double minor into OT and uncalled picks on their own goal, really chanting "F the refs?" after Benn scored?

Since my hospital is rudely always open, I will need someone to rate the Benn celebration on Art Ross to Sitting On A Blue scale of delight.