PGT: 9/14 - Exhibition: Team Europe 6 Sweden 2

Fenway

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Canuckistani

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Every team won and lost at least one exhibition game.

Was looking like Europe would be a total pushover but I guess not.
 

ijuka

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Sweden will not get through groups if they don't use Markström over Lundqvist.
 

Stubu

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Every team won and lost at least one exhibition game.

Was looking like Europe would be a total pushover but I guess not.

This (both things actually) was great for the tourney! :)

Truly didn't expect this kind of meltdown from Tre Kronor. Hoping it was just a temporary glitch. I want Finland to beat a well playing Sweden when it matters. :popcorn:
 

snipes

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Dr. Drai with a hatty against a strong team like Sweden :)
 

Pavels Dog

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It's exhibition hockey.. and playing "Team Europe" in north america has zero meaning for these players. Didn't see the game but no surprise swedes were bad.
 

RedLeader

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Laughed out loud when i saw the score this morning. I hope Markström is facing Russia on sunday. Doubt it though.
 

HIFE

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It's exhibition hockey.. and playing "Team Europe" in north america has zero meaning for these players. Didn't see the game but no surprise swedes were bad.

Blah, blah, blah, we heard how many times this last week was "exhibition." Tell us something we don't know. Thankfully the World Cup starts TODAY I'll never have to hear this meaningless comment again at HF (oops well at least till pre-season).

A team assembled of 8 countries should have a great advantage. Glad to see Europe does have some life. Especially glad for my Red Wings players.

Go Europe! Bring on the World Cup of Hockey!
 

RandV

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Markstrom is a bad goalie. you don't take out Lundqvist because he's bad in a completely meaningless game.

Markstrom is hardly a bad goalie, certainly not anywhere near Lundqvist's level but he should be establishing himself as a legit NHL starter this year.

Normally he shouldn't be able to approach and unseat Lundqvist, but if the 34 year old isn't in game form yet Sweden may be better off going with the young guy for this tourney.
 

RedLeader

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Markstrom is a bad goalie. you don't take out Lundqvist because he's bad in a completely meaningless game.

Things are not constant, goalies especially go through ups and downs. Lundqvist is a notorious slow starter. This tournament is not suited for him. Markström is going through positive development and is the one who played the best of our three goaltenders so far.
 

Bjornee

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Feb 9, 2014
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Things are not constant, goalies especially go through ups and downs. Lundqvist is a notorious slow starter. This tournament is not suited for him. Markström is going through positive development and is the one who played the best of our three goaltenders so far.

Well we've only seen Markstrom for one and a half periods yet, but overall he looked vi nfident in net. And stable too.
 

Pavels Dog

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Things are not constant, goalies especially go through ups and downs. Lundqvist is a notorious slow starter. This tournament is not suited for him. Markström is going through positive development and is the one who played the best of our three goaltenders so far.
If Lundqvist is bad in the first real game, you consider going with Markstrom. But Sweden's not a good enough team to win without Lundqvist at his best so you have to trust him.
 

Ola

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Grönborg has opted to go with a big, heavy and slow team. He has also to a large extent cut the high potential/high risk man-man defense we saw under Mårts.

This team's chance is to win two close games in the Group and then three close games in the medal round. Play some heroic defense and luck offensively. If they try to do something else -- if we make a lot of mistakes -- the lack of speed will kill us.

Personally, I would have loved to see Nyqvist and the other speedsters left out on the roster in favor of Carl Söderberg and Co, but Grönborg has made his choice. Can it work? For now, I wouldn't rule it out. Maybe its the option that gives us the best shot to be successful in the end, what do I know. But I think its safe to say that we will -- not -- survive if we don't realize that we cannot afford to loose pucks all over the ice due to risky decisions. You cannot tie the hands of someone like Erik Karlsson completely, and neither should we, that creativity is a strength this team have and one that can help us win those close games. But the entire team to a much greater extent much buy into the concept of really really really keeping things tight.
 

Ola

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If Lundqvist is bad in the first real game, you consider going with Markstrom. But Sweden's not a good enough team to win without Lundqvist at his best so you have to trust him.

Not saying that you won't need good goaltending to win this tournament, but you cannot play a style that is built on great goaltending in the games that we will see in the coming weeks.

These teams knows what it takes to win, everyone are so experienced. We will see the type of hockey now that we have seen in the POs the last years. Like the teams go far in the POs often have records around 80-90%, if not perfect records, when scoring first. I remember when being a child how we used to scream "last goal wins" late in games on the school yard, in the Stanley Cup POs you could basically scream "first goal wins" when hitting the ice.

That is how extremely small the marginals are. In short, it will be very very "easy" to loose a game. One mistake can do it, you face a team that sits down a bit and take away all ice, you try to push forward and the team being ahead takes advantage of you.

Playing goal is a game of %'s really. Sure a goalie can be good or bad, but if you start to "play the %s" too much, pucks will go in sooner or later. Its simple mathematics, no matter who you have in the net. Hank's biggest strength -- by far -- is that if the team in front of him does there job, he can do his job. Many goalies in the world can stand on their head at any level, but the best goalies has the ability to always gives themselves a chance if they have a proper defense in front of them. They will not play perfectly [sic] and then give up 3 goals because a puck bounced of the boards or a leg or whatever to an open shooter at the far post with an open net, they can manage to always be there for the one-timer of a E-W pass, for bouncing pucks and what not. And so forth.

So we cannot play a style where we play crappy defense and expect a goalie to save us, that won't work. If we play great defense, Hank has the ability to shut the door -- even -- if we get bounces against us and what not. That is what we can get for Hank. And even if it has been the case for NYR at times, you just cannot expect any goalie to save your beacon if you as a team does not play up to standards.
 
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ulvvf

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May 9, 2014
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Karlsson and sedin line good as always, Forsberg had some flashes, but overall this team is in bad shape. Not having players like Klingberg on the team is a huge mistake. But it is even more about how bad the forwards are. I think it will be as in the olympics, a few individuals have to do it and we have to hope for a good PP and many PP.

But the result do not really represent how the game looked.
 
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