GDT: 1/17/16 "Space Oddity" - Panthers VS Lightning

[austropanther]

Guys, what is your take on the following 3 suggestions:

- all lefties are LD, all righties are RD:

as we know, having this configuration helps the D-men to keep the puck better in the O-zone and trow it out more easily along the boards in the D-zone.

Why not switch it up? Being on your off-side gives a lot more options on offense and defense. I know it is a conscious choice by the coach but I think we would be less predictable like that (imagining that our D-men have the smarts to handle it...)

- D-men on PP when missing Ek:

Kuli and Soupy are the only ones used (none of them has a good shot ). Why not give a guy like Guds a shot? Him and Soup had the best outbreak passes last game of all D-men by far, and he got a lot better in getting shots on net under pressure - don't recall seeing him being given the opportunity for onetimers or more time to wind up for a slapper. Of course his skills are limited but so were Garrisons' before his breakout season. So what

- Mitchell and Petro:

They are having so much trouble starting the attack on the backend. I'd like to see Weegar or Matheson at some point who might be stronger in this department.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to your opinions.

 

[prohockey]

Not saying that the 12-game winning streak was a fluke, but we were hardly dominating any of our opponents. Many games could have gone either way, so did last game against Tampa. Personally I am a little worried, but no reason to panic

About Pirri:



I agree (with one little exception for the D-zone coverage. Bjugstad and Shaw are not much of a help which makes Pirri even look worse than he actually is).

Pirri scored over 20 once in his career. He is not a guy where we can be sure that he can repeat it (of course with 9 in 45 the chances are not so bad, but the last games were not convincing).


We can't carry a guy around like that for so long if he doesn't provide anything else during his cold streaks. For all these reasons, I don't understand why he gets such a long leash. I look at a guy like Smith who is very streaky scoring-wise but is always good on PK, is decent on the cycle, faster and responsible in the D-zone.

I do not question Pirri's efforts, but 1. right now Bjugstad and Shaw are not the right guys to get him started (JJ-Bjugy-Shaw looked so much better together) and 2. I do not see another line combination where he could fit, just as SoupyFIN pointed out.

A benching for a game or 2 has often done miracles, so why not do that (and take the opportunity if a guy like Rau can have a positive impact)?

Unless I am reading this wrong, you are suggesting that Pirri's D zone coverage is as a result of Bjugs and Shaw. That is so wrong , Shaw's D zone is very good and Bjugs is def not bad. So if Pirri doesn't move his feet and looses his battles you cannot blame that on Bjugs and Shaw.
You are right that JJ - Bjug- Shaw was much better .

 

[austropanther]

Unless I am reading this wrong, you are suggesting that Pirri's D zone coverage is as a result of Bjugs and Shaw. That is so wrong , Shaw's D zone is very good and Bjugs is def not bad. So if Pirri doesn't move his feet and looses his battles you cannot blame that on Bjugs and Shaw.
You are right that JJ - Bjug- Shaw was much better .

Not at all, it is definitely not their fault that he is bad defensively.

I rather meant that guys like JJ and Barky might be able to better cover up Pirri's shortcomings since IMO Bjugy and Shaw are better than Pirri but not great in their own zone.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Unless I am reading this wrong, you are suggesting that Pirri's D zone coverage is as a result of Bjugs and Shaw. That is so wrong , Shaw's D zone is very good and Bjugs is def not bad. So if Pirri doesn't move his feet and looses his battles you cannot blame that on Bjugs and Shaw.
You are right that JJ - Bjug- Shaw was much better .

Bjugs positioning per say isn't bad, he's usually in the right spot, he just has terrible awareness of what's going on around him and gets caught puck watching way too often.

 

[RainingRats]

Crap effort until Bjugstad scored. Tampa won that game like we did during our streak. Good bounce on one goal, great shot on another. We need to fix the PP and put in a better effort. Besides Ekblad, we're healthy. We have no excuses.

 

[Android 16]

Crap effort until Bjugstad scored. Tampa won that game like we did during our streak. Good bounce on one goal, great shot on another. We need to fix the PP and put in a better effort. Besides Ekblad, we're healthy. We have no excuses.

If we got just one pp goal, we might've had a different fate. The powerplay is huge and we need to start making it be at least average very, very soon.

 

[Haj]

Too busy overdosing on cuteness to panic.