Observations III

[wadesworld]

Please shoot me down on this. Last game and this one, how bad have we looked in the first? What is the rap on Lavy? That his act gets old and he loses the room. These guys, most of em, have been brought up in a details oriented, methodical system and they have responded to the change. What I want you to shoot me down on: is the way these guys have looked lately because they are getting exhausted from playing Lavys style? So the trajectory is that they run out of gas, Lavy gives em hell, but they can't respond and so they shut him out? Is that the story on his other teams and how do we avoid that here?

I thought we looked fantastic in the first. We were constantly in their end and they could accomplish nothing.

 

[drwpreds]

At the heart of my post is - can this group sustain that pace and could the flat first periods be a leading indicator that they cant. If they cant, what does that mean to the relationship between them and their coach. I LOVE what is happening now. I want that to continue.

Gotcha- I don't think there is anything to worry about with that for now- maybe down the road........

One thing I've been noticing is we seem to have slower starts at home than we do on the road (although I could be off here, have not done any research).

Which doesn't make sense considering we have the best home record in the league- obviously not hurting us for now.

 

[Drake744]

Last night there was a blatant attempt during the last TV timeout to get us to do a standing ovation. Some of us did it, and it was okay, but it wasn't nearly as awesome as it was in the past. I wonder how much of that has to do with newer fans who really had no clue what was going on.

 

[triggrman]

Sometimes we focus on our team too much.


If I'm a player and I'm going against a top team in the league, I step up my play, especially out of the gate, I've got the adrenaline going, I'm jacked to play well.

 

[bdub24]

Sometimes we focus on our team too much.


If I'm a player and I'm going against a top team in the league, I step up my play, especially out of the gate, I've got the adrenaline going, I'm jacked to play well.

AHA! That's so true...we do have a big ol bullseye on us dont we? Not really used to that..That just shut up that little voice in my head about the first period...

 

[NSH615]

There you have it.

 

[tampa pred]

There you have it.

Nice to get some guys back. Any word on Ellis yet?

 

[Pred303]

Doesn't IR mean they have to be on it at least a week or am I confusing that with something else? Neal was just placed there yesterday. Beck and Cullen were both at practice today though.

the rule is that a player has to stay on injured reserve for a minimum of 7 days, however teams are allowed to 'backdate' the date until the date of the actual injury... so neal is eligible to come off anytime now.

 

[Pred303]

cullen and beck back is good, but i was hoping this was done specifically for neal. of course at this very moment we still have only 22 on the active roster, so salamki didn't 'have' to be sent down until neal is activated, so maybe he's really close.

 

[drwpreds]

cullen and beck back is good, but i was hoping this was done specifically for neal. of course at this very moment we still have only 22 on the active roster, so salamki didn't 'have' to be sent down until neal is activated, so maybe he's really close.

Same here- I guess the fact that Neal was on the ice today is a good sign, but I wish we could find out something on his injury- hopefully he will be back soon.

 

[Armourboy]

Sometimes we focus on our team too much.


If I'm a player and I'm going against a top team in the league, I step up my play, especially out of the gate, I've got the adrenaline going, I'm jacked to play well.

That and you have a bit of the reverse going on for us. We came back from a stint where we played 4 of the best teams in the entire league all in a row. Then you come home and play a bottom team and a mid pack team which are probably a bit less exciting to be ready for.

 

[FossilFndr]

I would hope they are excited to play everyone to keep this momentum going. Excitement for them as well as their fans. I hope they are not getting so full of themselves that they feel that cocky.

 

[INDhockeyfan]

I don't think has been mentioned yet but they announced the remaining bobblehead players. Mike Fisher on Jan 16, Roman Josi on Feb 7 and Seth Jones on March 29th.

 

[Pred303]

just watched the replay on ellis over and over. absolutely no doubt it my mind now it's a pulled right groin and not any type of knee injury. unfortunately there is no way of knowing how long that takes to heal, sometimes it takes forever, but I feel a little better than it being a knee.

 

[BigFatCat999]

just watched the replay on ellis over and over. absolutely no doubt it my mind now it's a pulled right groin and not any type of knee injury. unfortunately there is no way of knowing how long that takes to heal, sometimes it takes forever, but I feel a little better than it being a knee.

When looking at a possible knee injury does the lower half of the leg move independently from the thigh.

That being said, the groin doesn't have a definitive timeline like a joint. Rest him for a couple of weeks, ease him back in. The Russian and Bart haven't looked bad in spot duty. The PP has been meh all season so the Preds weren't expecting much from that.

 

[drwpreds]

Oilers help us out with a 5-2 win over the Hawks.

Now 2 points up AND 2 games in hand.....

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Oilers help us out with a 5-2 win over the Hawks.

Now 2 points up AND 2 games in hand.....

And Roy with 3 points.

 

[Predsboro]

just watched the replay on ellis over and over. absolutely no doubt it my mind now it's a pulled right groin and not any type of knee injury. unfortunately there is no way of knowing how long that takes to heal, sometimes it takes forever, but I feel a little better than it being a knee.

Damn Steve ... you are scary good. Guy that skates at the rink with his family works in a rotation as medical staff at Bridgestone Arena for the Preds games. He was in tonight and told me Ellis' injury is groin.

 

[Pred303]

hey doug.

for those wondering about Nystrom's injury, I remember him blocking a shot with the back of his right hand the other night. wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't broken something in the hand the way it looked

 

[glenngineer]

hey doug.

for those wondering about Nystrom's injury, I remember him blocking a shot with the back of his right hand the other night. wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't broken something in the hand the way it looked

Remember late in the game, Jordan Staal took a slashing penalty? Nystrom slashed Staal first then Staal retaliated and received the penalty. Staal took a good whack from Nystrom and I'm sure he gave it right back to him. That's the one thing I remember from the Tuesday game.

 

[Pred303]

Remember late in the game, Jordan Staal took a slashing penalty? Nystrom slashed Staal first then Staal retaliated and received the penalty. Staal took a good whack from Nystrom and I'm sure he gave it right back to him. That's the one thing I remember from the Tuesday game.

true glenn.. something could have happened then.. of course in all honestness staal only did that in retaliation for being slashed by Nystrom first lol

 

[glenngineer]

true glenn.. something could have happened then.. of course in all honestness staal only did that in retaliation for being slashed by Nystrom first lol

Nystrom gave him a good whack, to the point where Staal was like, WTH, backed off, then laid in to Nystrom.

 

[Pred303]

hockey. at times results are almost unexplainable using logic. we come out without much intensity, we make 4 turnovers early (bartley, jones, Forsberg, weber), we get heavily outshot, we have fewer scoring chances, we have one of our worst discipline games putting them on the pp time and again, always their real offensive strength. we're playing a highly desperate team in their home barn, that is emotional over parise's dad and his return, a team recently lamblasted by their coach and media. and make three plays pretty much all game but we bury all three and win easily. almost like it took little effort. yes, sometimes hockey is difficult to explain.

some thoughts:
..obviously, Wilson and rinne almost singlehandedly won us this game.
..jones stepped up to the 2nd pair and played a solid game
..bartley stepped onto the third pair and didn't play well at all.
..luckily or more like wisely, we limited bartley's to less than 10 minutes. hopefully he settles in better than today.
...jokinen has more points and goals in the last 10 games than Forsberg. a scary turn of events.
..we got nothing from our first line. again. forsberg and Ribeiro badly need neal back. we need neal back.
..the pk was outstanding. it had to be.
..rinne was outstanding. we need him to be
..everytime I see suter's shot from the blueline, I think of handtrick and I on a roadtrip to Chicago with the team where trotz turned to us and said he could stop suter's weak slapshot in his underwear with a pair of tweezers. lol.

I have to say, this win sort of worries me. afraid it might reinforce to some we don't have to give our best effort to win some games. because today we seemed to win without much effort. and just seemed to take it for granted we could turn it on in the third and win going away. which, gulp, we sort of did.

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

It's weird that I feel like we've played three subpar games in a row and we're 3-0. I like it though. Our 3rd period today gave me hope.

 

[PredsV82]

Steve, I would be more worried if we didn't have a history of coming back strong after literally every loss this year. Given the fact that we have 3 days off and will be home I could see us coming out flat against Vancouver tuesday, but if we do I suspect it will be short lived