Morning skate: Exhausted

Folks, I don’t know about all of you, but this series has been exhausting.

And really, it’s mostly been over the past two games.

We’ve had ref takes, faceoff takes, jockeying in the press, goalie takes, draft takes...takes for all seasons, I guess.

The dumb thing about all of the takes on Bruce Cassidy’s post-Game 5 comments is that everyone knows what he was doing.

It’s exactly what Craig Berube did in the 2019 Final: give the refs something to think about while also sending an “I’ve got your back” type message to your team.

Another dumb thing is the wailing and grinding of teeth from Islanders fans/reporters, who are calling Cassidy a whiner just hours after Barry Trotz went to the press to complain about Patrice Bergeron cheating on faceoffs.

It’s too bad, too: this series has featured some excellent hockey (for the most part). It’s been two good teams trading blows, with the Islanders currently having the edge.

Instead of talking about that, we’re talking about officiating.

Good times.

Today’s highlight

I know some of you will recoil at Habs highlights, but sweeping Winnipeg is pretty impressive.

Today’s discussion topic

Montreal: seven consecutive wins in the playoffs. Wild stuff. I don’t know what that means, but discuss, because I can’t take anymore ref/goalie takes.