GDT: 11/22/13 - 10:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Anaheim

[Lord Stan 2020]

Bishop was unreal. Wow. He's got to be one of the best goalies in the league on breakaways. Un****ingreal. Too bad it feels like we give up 5 or more breakaways per game. Most of the Ducks' scoring chances were results of Lightning giveaways or our inability to clear the puck. And 0/6 on the PP? Yeah, not good enough.

Am I the only one thinking we should give Thompson more minutes? The guy plays what 10 to 11 minutes per game but everytime he enters the offensive zone he creates a scoring opportunity. I don't get why Cooper doesn't seem to see it.



Precaution, see post 270.

I was going to mention something since stamkos injury he is 55% on face offs why the hell isnt he on the power play to do that little bit at least for the first line?

That was one of the 3 or 4 major problems of the top power play. Other problems was getting puck into zone, keeping control of puck and not going back to defenders who dont get shots through etc..

The first power play is ugly. Why is the gun line getting so much opportunity and the first not?

Pretty simple to me they are getting control of puck off the bat and shooting the puck in lol.

I was wondering if cooper looks at stats. Obviously playing first line center on power play might make thompsons stats go down on face offs a bit but man I think he might be a huge upgrade to everyone even flip.

The gun line also has some serious puck hounds.

To me Thompson is one of the best in the business at that.

I think its time to give him some bit of an upgrade see what he can do. He is not going to net you a huge amount of points but do think he could really help us on the power play right now.

 

[Kusic]

It's definitely looks like that the only source of goals in this team is Stamkos.

 

[The Macho King]

Missed the game but watched the compressed one.

I love Ben Bishop. From the compressed game Panik looked like the guy that got most of the good chances, so that's nice to see.

 

[FDfranklin]

I didn't get to watch but from the highlights it looked like it was ANH vs Ben Bishop.. Does that pretty much sum it up?

 

[DFC]

Missed the game but watched the compressed one.

I love Ben Bishop. From the compressed game Panik looked like the guy that got most of the good chances, so that's nice to see.

I would give an edge to Johnson, or maybe even Purcell. ...Probably Johnson.

Johnson's speed is unreal. He seems to blow by defenders with ease. And his shot is probably the best among forwards (without Stamkos). I agree with an earlier post that I wish he would put on a move in tight now and again, if only to keep goalies honest. Seems to have decent one-on-one moves, but always goes to the wrister when he's in close.

 

[DFC]

I didn't get to watch but from the highlights it looked like it was ANH vs Ben Bishop.. Does that pretty much sum it up?

Not really. At point, yes. Definitely. It was a game where whichever team had control looked like it was dominating. We would play great for 7-8 minutes and then just completely break down and Bishop would bail us out.

 

[FDfranklin]

Not really. At point, yes. Definitely. It was a game where whichever team had control looked like it was dominating. We would play great for 7-8 minutes and then just completely break down and Bishop would bail us out.

Nice. At least we didn't completely suck than... The highlights were mainly plays from the ducks.

 

[Outl4w]

If the Bolts can play around .500 hockey until Stammer get backs we will be in great shape. The younger player should take big strides in their games and learn to step up. Stammertime will be in full effect. He can be the torch to light and carry the team. We have a lot of young talent and NHL talent , but the Lightning need to learn to play NHL hockey. If Kilhorn, Palat, Johnson, Panik, Connoly, Brown, Babeiro, Gudas, Sustr, and, Hedman can all grow and step their games up the Lightning will be a force to be reckoned with. Stammer and MSL cannot carry the offense forever; MSL is going to age at some time. Stammer hopefully be will be great for 10+ years, but we need secondary scoring and players to step up for now and the future.

 

[CupsOverCash]

The kids responded in a great way to the previous games I thought. They just need to keep learning and growing and they will be fine. I think this challenge of playing without Stamkos will be good for them in the long run. They will learn how to score goals and finish without the need of Stamkos there to bail them out. Speaking of bailing out, Bishop is outstanding. It was good to get a point in a game where they wouldn't have gotten one without Bishop. When this team starts scoring goals they will be tough to beat. And then when Stankos comes back were a better team than before he injury. I'm not sure if he will be back this season or not but the kids are learning a great deal and that will make them better. Then we will have Kucherov and Drouin to add. Two playmakers that will make things happen. Don't forget Johnson is a goal scorer too. Panik and Palat can get it done too they just need some time and it will come. The best times truly are ahead. It's just suffering through some of these early growing pains but its still fun to watch even though there isn't much offense. That was actually a fun game to watch.

 

[AlphaCatalyst]

Despite these losses we are only 1 point back of 1st (bruins are currently playing so it could be 3 by the end of the day) plus most of the west games we have played have been the top teams. We do not have to worry about Chicago, Anaheim or LA until the playoffs Also we have played our nemisis the bruins 3/4 times already. Making the playoffs is still very doable as we have had to play a pretty rough first 23 games. With well over 50 left I agree with Outlaw that even a .500 record over the next few months should keep us in contention. I personally think we can do much better than .500 so it is still far from time to Panik, (despite what I may say in GDT.)

 

[DFC]

Despite these losses we are only 1 point back of 1st (bruins are currently playing so it could be 3 by the end of the day) plus most of the west games we have played have been the top teams. We do not have to worry about Chicago, Anaheim or LA until the playoffs Also we have played our nemisis the bruins 3/4 times already. Making the playoffs is still very doable as we have had to play a pretty rough first 23 games. With well over 50 left I agree with Outlaw that even a .500 record over the next few months should keep us in contention. I personally think we can do much better than .500 so it is still far from time to Panik, (despite what I may say in GDT.)

This. If we can find a way to score, we should be alright. The worst is over. Our schedule gets considerably easier from here on out.

 

[CarpeNoctem]

I appreciate the optimism guys but we are in serious trouble here without making any roster moves. We lack finishers and our overall D is still average, at best, if even that. Bishop held us in the game last night, and we couldn't score despite a ton of PP chances. We need to either acquire a forward who can finish plays or a PMD who sets the table very well on the PP.

Lots of teams near us are looking to sell (Panthers, Canes etc) some of what we need. We've gotta be willing to part with at least someone like Connolly to stay in it until Stammer is back or we'll be so far out it won't matter.

 

[DFC]

I appreciate the optimism guys but we are in serious trouble here without making any roster moves. We lack finishers and our overall D is still average, at best, if even that. Bishop held us in the game last night, and we couldn't score despite a ton of PP chances. We need to either acquire a forward who can finish plays or a PMD who sets the table very well on the PP.

Lots of teams near us are looking to sell (Panthers, Canes etc) some of what we need. We've gotta be willing to part with at least someone like Connolly to stay in it until Stammer is back or we'll be so far out it won't matter.

It's tricky though. Any move we make has to work for a team with Stamkos on it. We don't want to jeopardize the future for a tough three month stretch. Best case scenario would have been Connolly breaking out, but that didn't happen, obviously. Still, it's probably too early to trade him for an NHL forward, and I don't even know if it's possible with our cap situation.

 

[Bolts26]

Just a few thoughts/observations/questions from my first "live" game in 3+ years.

1. Bishop, when on, is amazing. Yeah, I know you all know this, but considering that if I'm lucky, I'll get to watch 2-3 games per season with the time difference/lack of national broadcasts.

2. Are Panik and Sustr always as bad as they were on Friday night? I'm the eternal optimist and typically annoy my friends by always finding the positive out of the negative, but damn, these two are hard to find a positive from.

3. This team is HUGE physically (minus St. Louis and Johnson). Should they get their acts together in time to salvage a playoff spot, that could be a big factor come playoff time.

4. I'm really surprised at how many Lightning fans were in attendance. In my section alone I saw 4-5 Stamkos jerseys, a St. Louis and 2-3 Lecavalier. My entire row was Bolts fans - though none of us had any Bolts clothing on. There were a number of others who came down near the bench for warmups and walking around the concourse. It was fun to see.

I'm sure there are more, but I'm exhausted from the trip... and I'm sure you guys see everything/anything else I'd say on a regular basis, so no point on being redundant.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Just a few thoughts/observations/questions from my first "live" game in 3+ years.

1. Bishop, when on, is amazing. Yeah, I know you all know this, but considering that if I'm lucky, I'll get to watch 2-3 games per season with the time difference/lack of national broadcasts.

2. Are Panik and Sustr always as bad as they were on Friday night? I'm the eternal optimist and typically annoy my friends by always finding the positive out of the negative, but damn, these two are hard to find a positive from.

3. This team is HUGE physically (minus St. Louis and Johnson). Should they get their acts together in time to salvage a playoff spot, that could be a big factor come playoff time.

4. I'm really surprised at how many Lightning fans were in attendance. In my section alone I saw 4-5 Stamkos jerseys, a St. Louis and 2-3 Lecavalier. My entire row was Bolts fans - though none of us had any Bolts clothing on. There were a number of others who came down near the bench for warmups and walking around the concourse. It was fun to see.

I'm sure there are more, but I'm exhausted from the trip... and I'm sure you guys see everything/anything else I'd say on a regular basis, so no point on being redundant.

I only watched the first period but Panik looked like our best player so not sure what you saw. Sustr played pretty well that period I thought too.

Size wise I think we're one of the tallest teams but those numbers are skewed because of Sustr, Lindback and Bishop.