GDT: 11/29/17 - 7:30PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Boston

[These Are The Days]

That was the most craptacular game ever. It took them a while but they got their legs under them and we actually played well enough to win for stretches of time. But my biggest takeaway is that the Lightning need to learn how to win a damn draw for once. We're going to get murdered in the playoffs (should we make it) if we don't improve there soon./

 

[The Macho King]

Yeah - put no heart in you get no points. Team needs to stop believing their own hype.

 

[Shoresy Snipes]

Toronto should be passing Bolts in the standings .... by this weekend? By this time next week? Sooner?

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

*sigh* close but not enough. Not sure how much of that was Boston foolishly sitting back or the Bolts finally getting it together, but unfortunately not enough time in the 3rd to make up for the previous 40. I never like playing in Boston.

 

[These Are The Days]

And it's definitely time to shake up the lines and possibly the team. There's so little ability on this team to score a dirty goal that its fightening. Unless Kunitz popped one by accident it was never going to happen. Callahan and Killorn were completely invisible as usual. 4th line did their thing but it wasn't much. It was nice to see Johnson come back to life. But nevertheless Stamkos needs to call a meeting after this one. That was complete and utter embarrassment.

Hats off to Coop for recognizing the need to change. I'd say it needed to happen sooner but I understand trying to tough it out for as long as he did.

 

[Stammertime91]

Honestly this story has run it's course of playing like ads and then coming within 1-2 goals in the final 10 minutes of the game. Years of this is sickening. They've been doing this for a while now and you'd think they'd try to get back in games earlier on but they dont.

Tonight was a piss poor performance in which we could have easily lost 5-0. I'm pretty tired of this team and it's not just because they've hit a bump but because of their lack of effort. There's so many games where they win or get close to tying it up where they coasted 90% of the game.

It's like a public skate and they don't take it seriously until late in the 3rd. The Chicago game was a disappointment and they won, as was the Isles game that could've been 7-0 and ended 5-3. Nothing will change either. Cooper has bought himself plenty of time, ass players like Sustr still on the team and free loaders that have been pulling disappearing acts like Killorn and Johnson do very little even as they aren't scoring.

Not giving up but I'm just irritated. There's so much potential on this team but it's like at times they really don't care.

 

[These Are The Days]

*sigh* close but not enough. Not sure how much of that was Boston foolishly sitting back or the Bolts finally getting it together, but unfortunately not enough time in the 3rd to make up for the previous 40. I never like playing in Boston.

It was a mix of both. As soon as they went up 3-0 you could just tell the turtle was going into its shell and that we were going to have a fighting chance. Unfortunately the Bruins employed the old Babcock strategy and put 2 players in front of the net at all times.

If every team did that we'd never win another game

 

[Shoresy Snipes]

What's on Marchand's nose? Is that? Oh wait. .. dayum

 

[Fabiobest]

Another loss...
We've played "good" only a period...

 

[berlin]

No more Scooby Doo posts, it’s dead.

 

[Steazy Doo]

No more Scooby Doo posts, it’s dead.

 

[Stormbreaker]

 

[AlphaCatalyst]

No more Scooby Doo posts, it’s dead.

 

[emg0827]

I wonder if they might try and move Johnson up the line up to try and get him going, he's always at his best with palat(and kuch, but i don't think they separate him and stamkos), maybe put point on stammers wing and try Johnson at 2c for a few games and put vlad at 3c? i think its worth a shot although i don't like vladdy as a center near as much as a winger.

honestly think dotchin being out really hurts this team, he may have bad game here or there but he's a steady puck mover who can play ~20 odd mins a game

 

[Stammertime91]

Good. Maybe he can go back to the drawing board and get a fire lit under these guys because they play with zero heart. If our "top" players would actually dig in every shift we'd be competing every night, but as it stands, we float around until the 3rd hoping for a comeback and 20 minutes later its, "well, uh, we've gotta, uhhhhh, be, uhh, better. We know, uh, that, and , in we are going to work on things. Uhhh."

 

[Hoek]

When is Dotchin coming back dang it.

Someone prank the Bolts into thinking they're out of the playoffs again so they will play pissed off.

 

[Bolt 45]

At least we showed up in the third, I guess? Got to watch twenty minutes of unpredictable hockey, at least? Not much room for a silver lining on this rain cloud.

The team was lazy, which is bad enough, but their passing was atrocious on top of it. Forget tape-to-tape, half of the time they can't it even get it within a stick-length of the intended target. They're also flat-out giving the puck away. Right in front of our net. And you'd think clearing the zone would be manageable for pros, but nope, not our guys. What gives? The D's gotten pretty hesitant against the forecheck, which I'm guessing is a result of teams figuring out whatever sort of patterns we've been skating in the neutral zone to this point. That last bit in particular doesn't bode well. Last season 2.0. Ruh roh indeed.

Coop's got a lot of work to do. Time for him to download the latest system update, because line shuffling will only take us so far.

And f**k the puck for turning on us all of the sudden. What'd we ever do to it?

 

[Todd1a]

Teams have figured out vladdy, stamkos and Kucherov other then the pp when they get space! If you don’t give them any space they don’t beat you. Gourde is not a top 6 guy we need to upgrade him on that palat , point line! Trade for evander Kane! Dude is like 3rd in the league with shots and we can drop gourde down to where he needs to be. Koekkoek, 2nd And a top prospect for Kane rent him get it done

 

[LightningStrikes]

On the 2nd GA (Nash): Was it correct for Coburn to chase the guy with the puck? You could see Sustr was confused and didn't get to the left side in time.

Sick passing on our 2nd goal though. Beautiful.


Got outshot and out-FO'ed. I think it's time to think about bringing someone in who can actually win a draw for a change.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Sustr has been on the ice far too much.

Damn I miss Dotchin!

 

[Sky04]

Normally I wouldn't be a fan of splitting up a top line but in our rare case we have a bunch of different combinations that are top-line material. If Stamkos-St.Louis were in a funk back in the Boucher days you'd have to let them work it out because there's no other combination.

In our case we have Palat-Point-Kucherov that dominated the end of the last season and Palat-Johnson-Kucherov that are magic, could be worth a try. And for Stamkos, he can't always be glued to Kucherov, he makes the most money on the team he's got to be able to step up with other linemates.

 

[MattM92]

Gotta shake up the lines. Stop playing Sustr over Koekkoek. I'm tired of the quarter efforts. We've been seeing the 2016-17 Lightning the last 6-7 games. 20 minutes of effort isn't enough. Cooper needs to wake this team up pronto.

 

[Obviously]

Palat, Johnson and Killorn could all be moved and I wouldn't lose any sleep. These guys cashed out and seem to have lost all of their competitive drive. Got to be frustrating carrying these coasters along with Sustr. Also, Hedman has looked especially bad. The guy loses every board battle and just flings the puck in random directions it seems, not impressed with him at all lately.

 

[JoVel]

Palat, Johnson and Killorn could all be moved and I wouldn't lose any sleep. These guys cashed out and seem to have lost all of their competitive drive. Got to be frustrating carrying these coasters along with Sustr. Also, Hedman has looked especially bad. The guy loses every board battle and just flings the puck in random directions it seems, not impressed with him at all lately.

Johnson I understand but not Palat and Killorn. The line of Palat, Point and Gourde has easily our most hardworking line the entire season. A few slow games recently but that has been the whole team. Killorn is also on pace for 50 points right now, which would be more than he's ever had. Doubt he puts up that many, but I haven't seen any reason to be angry about him, especially compared to last season.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

i can admit when im wrong, and ive been especially hard on golden boy dotchin, but it seems like the team really misses him.

of course, missing him might also be explained in that they are replacing his minutes with sustr and girardi (who is doing ok, but really didnt need more minutes, and was worthless last night).

to echo everyone else's opinion, i really hope we are showcasing sustr for a trade. because otherwise....ehhhhhhhhhh?