GDT: 12/3/13 - 7:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Columbus

[ThunderAlleyNomad]

I'm not entirely excusing the veterans, either. MSL, addressed elsewhere, is playing like he's injured. Expecting anything from Purcell is a crapshoot. At best. We've got a metric crapton of injuries which isn't helping.

But we're pretty much sunk at this point so why does it even matter.

I guess we should just throw in the playoff towel (who expected us to be there anyway) and let the kids learn. No question they've had the energy, but they aren't able to produce. Simple as that. They throw pucks in the general direction of the net, but they don't go in and they don't create rebounds because, guess what, there's nobody there. That's on all the guys. We're not playing like a team that wants to win.

Right now, Kucherov and TyJo have impressed me. Panik is a liability and has just pissed me off. Everyone else? Somewhere in the middle.

Who's talking about throwing in the towel on the playoffs. I'm extremely disappointed in tonight's game because of the effort level and it should have been a winnable game, but let's tone down the overreaction a bit shall we?

As the vets come off the injury list the kids that need to will go back to Syracuse, where they are very much needed. You don't start trading away your youth and depth in the first week of December when you're still in a playoff position. It's a panic move.

And sorry, but to me the crap play that we saw tonight falls on the vets. It's what they are there to teach, how to win, how to play, provide leadership. They didn't do it tonight.

 

[DFC]

We have some serious ****ing problems and it starts with the vets. We may have a lot of rookies that don't always make the right play but they ****ing hustle every shift. I'm also sick and tired of seeing the 4th line out there when we need a goal late in a game! We are NOT a 4 line team! Thompson and Crombeen work hard but they are what they are! 4th line grinders that go out there and eat 6-10 minutes a game. When we're down 1-0 with 5 minutes to go it's time to shorten the bench.

I would be willing to trade Panik, Connolly, and Malone with very little convincing. Panik is just far too inconsistent to be a piece we can win with. He'll look like Marian Hossa for 5 games and then you can't even notice him for the next 10. ****ing awful!

Hedman can't hit the ****ing net to save his life! We can't hit open ****ing nets! Cooper needs to teach these guys how to shoot the puck and make them work their ***** off for every missed net. Unacceptable.

This has been hurting us for a while.

Funnily enough, Hedman's last three goals have been on pucks he hasn't even really shot, but just sort of tossed on net.

 

[HoseEmDown]

We could use somebody like Connolly out there. Really missing his spark.

 

[The Macho King]

I'm curious as to all of the "we're the better team" stuff. I saw them play great D and have a great forecheck, giving up only a handful of really good chances. How are we the better team again? It strikes me that the better team walked out of there with two points.

 

[CarpeNoctem]

Yeah, I said that above and got told I was wrong. Good luck with that.

Just because a majority disagrees does not make us wrong. Plus, after another couple of shutouts, people will come around

 

[The Macho King]

Also, crapping on Hedman makes no sense. The one open net was blocked, and he was the only Dman to come close to creating offense, while playing great D.

 

[DFC]

Someone just needs to score some goals. I know we want a shoot-first mentality, but that only works if guys are willing to drive the net. All we're really doing is tossing the puck on goal and then hustling back for the backcheck.

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

Who's talking about throwing in the towel on the playoffs.

The fact that we're now in a wildcard spot and dropping fast? The only thing really saving us (IMHO and short term) is the Leafs brutal December schedule that will - likely - see them sink out of any memory.

It's not overreaction to see the team not score in 2 games and be shutout in 3/5 and be concerned about the ability of this team to score goals. Especially when the shutout continues against a team like Columbus that has given up tons of shots and goals this season, but not to us.

 

[DFC]

Also, crapping on Hedman makes no sense. The one open net was blocked, and he was the only Dman to come close to creating offense, while playing great D.

I thought this was the worst game Hedman's played in a while. Had trouble holding pucks in at the line, got taken off the puck a lot, made a lot of weak passes, missed a LOT of nets even without the one that was open which might have been tipped. He wasn't even close to our worst player, but he wasn't as good as he's been lately.

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

Someone just needs to score some goals. I know we want a shoot-first mentality, but that only works if guys are willing to drive the net. All we're really doing is tossing the puck on goal and then hustling back for the backcheck.

This exactly. It was a glaring difference this game. Columbus made a shot. Had someone right at the net for rebound chances. We whiffed the puck in the general direction of the net and prayed for the best, but the puck never went in. That **** isn't getting us goals.

 

[Coopers Gum]

I'm curious as to all of the "we're the better team" stuff. I saw them play great D and have a great forecheck, giving up only a handful of really good chances. How are we the better team again? It strikes me that the better team walked out of there with two points.

True. We would have been the better team if we didn't have over 20 turnovers though. I'm curious to see how many. I'd give more credit to the Jackets had they been forced, but the majority were dumb and unforced.

Also, crapping on Hedman makes no sense. The one open net was blocked, and he was the only Dman to come close to creating offense, while playing great D.

Yes. I don't know how no one saw that Hedman had no angle on that shot. He was blocked.

 

[ThunderAlleyNomad]

The fact that we're now in a wildcard spot and dropping fast? The only thing really saving us (IMHO and short term) is the Leafs brutal December schedule that will - likely - see them sink out of any memory.

It's not overreaction to see the team not score in 2 games and be shutout in 3/5 and be concerned about the ability of this team to score goals. Especially when the shutout continues against a team like Columbus that has given up tons of shots and goals this season, but not to us.

I'm not saying that all of the rookies or sophmores are untouchable. I do believe that was the point of my very first sentence on the subject. There are a couple that it wouldn't break my heart to see go, and I understand that the scoring needs to increase, obviously. However, before you start trading away players that are the future of this team, you better make damn sure that everybody is trying every game. Everybody. Better realize that there have been some games since Stamkos went down where there has been no scoring issues whatsoever. And what those games have in common is that they were all home games and everybody on the team played their ***** off.

Getting tired of piss poor road efforts, sad sad powerplays and excuses. No reason this team, with only a few MINOR adjustments can't be a playoff team.

 

[FDfranklin]

It's funny how we go from amazing offense and horrible goaltending to horrible offense and amazing goaltending.

 

[Ricebox]

Tampa Bay Lightning...

You can only choose two of the following per game

Offense
Defense
Goaltending

and some games, you get screwed and get none of the above.

the inconsistency on this team is scary.

 

[FDfranklin]

Tampa Bay Lightning...

You can only choose two of the following per game

Offense
Defense
Goaltending

and some games, you get screwed and get none of the above.

the inconsistency on this team is scary.

Past 4 games we've had goaltending and defense. Past 2 we've been missing Offense. If we had offense we would have won the last 4.

 

[Cigar City]

I'd like to see JT Brown and Kucherov get more than 14:00. It seems as if they are the only ones creating scoring chances, to be honest.

 

[FDfranklin]

I'd like to see JT Brown and Kucherov get more than 14:00. It seems as if they are the only ones creating scoring chances, to be honest.

I agree. And from what I've seen they aren't too bad defensively either.

 

[DFC]

Tampa Bay Lightning...

You can only choose two of the following per game

Offense
Defense
Goaltending

and some games, you get screwed and get none of the above.

the inconsistency on this team is scary.

Well, they're very young, and inconsistency is usually the last hurdle for a young player to clear. The inconsistency out of the vets is a little troubling though.

It's important to remember that we're pretty decimated right now. That doesn't excuse an effort like what we saw tonight, but it's a reason to not go looking for a bridge. With every player that's out, that's another player playing in a spot they're not supposed to be in. We complain about Malone, but Dana Tyrell shouldn't be on our fourth line. And Malone is a leader. Gudas, Brewer. Gudas is a momentum changer.

Unfortunately we're playing like we have an injury to our effort.

 

[chasespace]

The Purcell-Flip-MSL line has been sub-par

 

[Coopers Gum]

The Purcell-Flip-MSL line has been sub-par

Too much passing. I really liked Teddy-Killer-Kucherov. Why did that line get split up?

 

[Glide5]

Tampa Bay Lightning...

You can only choose two of the following per game

Offense
Defense
Goaltending

and some games, you get screwed and get none of the above.

the inconsistency on this team is scary.

I would be mad, but this is the team I expected to see. When you are almost half rookies, inconsistency will happen on a daily basis. I'm not justifying the poor play, just saying I cant be shocked.

 

[Glide5]

This was a frustrating as hell game to play. Looked exactly like last year. No effort. Poor shooting. Just a lack of everything from the team. The only guys who seemed to show up was Bishop and Aulie (for a bit)...

I get a feeling that we are moving towards a top 5 pick again. I thought we would be there anyways, but I hate seeing the team playing this poorly. Too much passing, not enough shooting. Having most of the starters out doesnt help us at all either.

 

[Tampa Bay Kiwi]

Just finished watching the game, terrible stuff really. Kuch was the only one generating decent scoring chances and was hardly on the ice? What the ****?! He had chemistry with Killer and Teddy a few game ago, why have they been split up?

How hard is it to score a goal every now and then?

 

[chasespace]

Brown-Flip-MSL
Purcell-Killer-Kucherov
Palat-TJ-Panik
Crombeen-Thompson-Tyrell


Those are the forward lines I want to see right now with what we have. They did wonders the few games Cooper used them. I can't figure out why he broke them up.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

we suck