Post-Game Talk: Preds @ Mild 3/10 2:30pm The "Finish Them" edition

[BigFatCat999]

This could spark Minny. They have the Yotes, Ducks twice, Blues and Kings in their next five games. Ducks/Kings are B2B.

We have the Jets, Kraken, Sharks, Panthers and Wings.

The Jets will be hardish. Rest don't scare me

 

[predfan24]

Second game of on the road early start time back to back games, throw in some time moving forward, a D-man going down early, and the opponent not playing the previous night....this was a pretty good effort. Preds looked great in the first, pretty good in the second, and gassed by the third. To be expected considering the circumstances. If they could have played with the same physicality/forecheck the second half of the game as they did the first half they prob would have won, but the circumstances didn't allow for that.

The only big criticism I can give is despite all those obstacles Preds still seemed to dominate the puck and could have won the game by multiple goals if they had buried just a couple of the many glorious chances they had. Credit to Fluery who made some great saves, and the post that saved him in OT. My only individual criticism would be levied at Forsberg who looks like he played hot potato with the puck this entire weekend. Turnover machine. One additional thing I noticed was the Sissons and new guys sticks out as not having much chemistry yet but obviously the guys are brand new and need time to adjust to see if they can add some positive influence to the forward corps.

 

[hockey diva]

Second time with a week we are the victim of someone else’s highlight reel.

Should have known we would be in trouble when the TNT guys were complimentary…

 

[Armourboy]

Hynes pulling the goalie only looks smart because it worked, if they had lost because of it he would be getting mocked for being stupid.

 

[BigFatCat999]

We didn't finish them.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Hynes pulling the goalie only looks smart because it worked, if they had lost because of it he would be getting mocked for being stupid.

Yeah and I'd have to think your odds of winning playing 3 v 3 or in the shootout has to be way higher than playing with the goalie pulled. Although the element of surprise may have increased the odds of it being successful I guess. The players have said they didn't realize you lost the extra point if they didn't score and I wonder if Hynes realized that or not.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

It was a pretty good gamble since Minnesota NEEDED the two points, especially considering they caught Forsberg and Nyquist out there. Their horrible positioning is what caused that goal.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I guess I don't understand where the idea that they absolutely needed two points comes from? The Wild still have 20% of the season left to play, they have the easiest SOS remaining in the league, and they have two matchups each against Vegas and LA who they are chasing. They do have a decent amount of ground to make up but I don't view them as being in total desperation mode at this point.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

You can look at the teams around you in the standings or you can look at a minimum amount of points needed to get into the playoffs, 95 points is usually a good target. To get to 95 points a team has to be 13 games over .500, with the win yesterday Minnesota needs to be 9 games over .500 in the remaining 17 that's a pretty high bar, something like 12-3-2. Had they only earned the single point yesterday they would need to be 10 games over .500 in those 17 games 13-3-1. What's their best stretch of 17 games this season?

Time is running out for them, no reason to save all of your desperation for the last week of the season.

 

[Predsanddead24]

You can look at the teams around you in the standings or you can look at a minimum amount of points needed to get into the playoffs, 95 points is usually a good target. To get to 95 points a team has to be 13 games over .500, with the win yesterday Minnesota needs to be 9 games over .500 in the remaining 17 that's a pretty high bar, something like 12-3-2. Had they only earned the single point yesterday they would need to be 10 games over .500 in those 17 games 13-3-1. What's their best stretch of 17 games this season?

Time is running out for them, no reason to save all of your desperation for the last week of the season.

I see your point but 95 points is sort of just an arbitrary target number and I think its better to look at the actual standings situation. Even if they just get the one point yesterday they would still only be 7 points back of Vegas with two games against them. Outside of their roaring hot start Vegas has been a below average to bad team too which suggests you can make up ground. The Wild beat them in their earlier matchup this season too. From my perspective I see plenty of opportunity to make up ground still and I'd save the desperation move for later. Especially since I'm not sure I believe that pulling the goalie there even gives you an advantage in your odds of winning versus just playing out the OT/SO. I supposed it works which is all that really matters though.

 

[Softball99]

You wait for 3 of the least defensive players to hit the ice and gain posession....wait for your 4th to get on the ice and go...I promise he had forethought this oppurtunity

 

[Predsanddead24]

I mean yeah I have no doubt it was a calculated move by Hynes. I just don't think you should look at the result and use that to infer it was the right decision. If I spend my life savings on Powerball tickets and win I came out on top but that doesn't mean it was a good choice. Similarly I don't think just because it worked this means it was the right choice by Hynes. Although I guess that is the thing about sports is that sometimes you just have to hope luck is on your side and make the bold choice. It's sort of the analytics versus go with your gut argument really.

 

[wmupreds]

I mean yeah I have no doubt it was a calculated move by Hynes. I just don't think you should look at the result and use that to infer it was the right decision. If I spend my life savings on Powerball tickets and win I came out on top but that doesn't mean it was a good choice. Similarly I don't think just because it worked this means it was the right choice by Hynes. Although I guess that is the thing about sports is that sometimes you just have to hope luck is on your side and make the bold choice. It's sort of the analytics versus go with your gut argument really.

You can certainly argue it either way but what I will give credit for is that the execution was on point.

 

[herzausstein]

People complain about 3v3 being boring. Hynes found a way to spice things up atleast

 

[Predsanddead24]

I will be interested to see if Hynes tries it again should the opportunity arise. I feel like part of why it worked so well is that we were caught completely off guard and weren't really sure what to do. Now every team that plays them will at least have some inkling of a plan.

 

[Softball99]

So play defensively responsible people with hands in OT.....It fits Preds mentality and history somewhat

 

[nine_inch_fang]

So play defensively responsible people with hands in OT.....It fits Preds mentality and history somewhat

I would think you'd just cover defensive responsibilities during the 4v3 with your OT guys just incase someone tries it again.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I have no idea how NHL coaches would approach it but having played a bunch of inline hockey back in the day the number one rule of a 4 v 3 PK is you cannot allow a cross ice pass like that. Let the point man and guy on the half wall pass it all day and trust your goalie can make a save that doesn't require going post to post. They actually pointed it out in the post game how Forsberg moving his stick to try and cover the pass back to the point for just a split second left that lane wide open and then it was game over. Nyquist and Carrier also both put themselves in no mans land positions too which didn't help.

 

[101st_fan]

It was a well timed, well executed decision. It was a surprise and caught us with one forward that is absent from the PK and one that is a tertiary PK'er. If it fails then it's the perfect opprotunity for a goalie goal ... but they scored before we could get control of the puck.

 

[Softball99]

I would think you'd just cover defensive responsibilities during the 4v3 with your OT guys just incase someone tries it again.

Fil and Nyquist in that situation is like Gaustad and Smithson on the shootout... wonder how much PK time have those 3 had.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

I have no idea how NHL coaches would approach it but having played a bunch of inline hockey back in the day the number one rule of a 4 v 3 PK is you cannot allow a cross ice pass like that. Let the point man and guy on the half wall pass it all day and trust your goalie can make a save that doesn't require going post to post. They actually pointed it out in the post game how Forsberg moving his stick to try and cover the pass back to the point for just a split second left that lane wide open and then it was game over. Nyquist and Carrier also both put themselves in no mans land positions too which didn't help.

Who drew it up that Forsberg was the problem? The way I saw it, that backside pass was Nyquist's responsibility. Carrier had the passing lane to the low guy covered (Nyquist dropped to low to also cover Carrier's mark), Fil should be preventing anything out high, and Nyquist should have been in the middle to clog that passing lane. He was originally there but dropped down and that's when the pass came across. You could see it happening in real time, he looked at that low guy, started moving to him then boom, game over.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Just watched the post game, Biz put it on Forsberg then also threw Nyquist in there at the very end. Forsberg was actually doing a decent job of applying some pressure to the puck carrier while still block his passing lane. The true weak link was Nyquist.

 

[Kat Predator]

Nyquist only gets minimal time on the PK. Forsberg basically gets none. So pulling the goalie was calculated because they were the ones on the ice.

Zucc held the puck at the halfwall. Fil was close to him but flashed his stick up ice to defend the pass to the point. When he did that, it left both Nyquist and Carrier with their sticks in the position to defend a pass to the guy at the backdoor. Boldy was also on the backside, up high, and there were zero sticks there to defend that pass through the triangle.

Game over.

 

[glenngineer]

Boldy hit a rocket too. I don't even remember seeing it go in or the net move.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Heard Hynes talking about the play this afternoon on NHL Network. This was planned well ahead of time, the definitely had a plan for how to set it up and get fleury off the ice efficiently. He said he had to hold them back a bit, the players wanted to do it right away.