Miller and Pirri should both be in for G2.
And PSA: JONES IS TERRIBLE. Shoot from anywhere. Hell aim at his chest if you have to.
Angry post game thoughts:
Going into tonight's game I thought the game plan would be to just f***ing pepper Jones with shots and see if he can stop them all.
I seriously never saw so many brutal non calls against us all night in our entire existence as a franchise and yet the sharks fans kept crying that they got ripped off on calls against us. I hate bitching about refs, but this game was the worst one sided called game since the 2002 Kings vs Lakers western conference finals.
I still really believe that Gallant is highly overrated because he doesn't make needed adjustments (just look at Trotz' strategy adjustments from game 1 to game 2 and the rest of the finals games in the SCF that exposed every weakness we had and what he's done with the islanders this year and that's real coaching) and the PP has been awful all year long and was never fixed. All Gallant does is run his system and doesn't attack the other teams weak points or shore up our weak points that other teams will likely exploit. Is he a top 10 coach? Probably. But not top 5 for sure. All I see are guys trying to hit the opposition and not trying to steal the puck and creating turnovers any more like we did last year. I'm sure that he does try to make adjustments, I just don't see any of them showing up in big games. If frustrating the sharks by hitting them non stop was the game plan to wear them out and rattle them then it needs to be scrapped. The forecheck has been way down this year as teams know what we do and we haven't changed much other than to play more defensive as in defending our zone but not effectively stealing pucks like bandits like last season. Stone is really the only reliable thief we got. Gallant also using the Wild Bill unit on the PP first makes no sense at all since he's weak at faceoffs. Stastny's unit should be the first PP unit as there is a better chance that we win the faceoff and can create something and maybe wear the PK unit on the opposing team down then bring in Karlsson's line.
Fleury needs to play better even though most of the goals look like it shouldn't be put on him to someone who just watched the highlights. 1 out of the 4 goals I think he should have had and while the hockey gods gave the sharts every break in fluky goals, he really seemed less confident and wasn't seeing the game unfolding in front of him. He just didn't look like himself. Or maybe it's just one of those games you gotta tip your cap to the other team for playing outstanding. I should really put Kane's goal on Stastny. He should have made a stronger attempt to block the shot, poke check, or gone harder at Kane to disrupt the shot attempt. I don't know if he was tired, but Stazz looked like he was making a half ass effort at attacking Kane. And the puck off the face of Pavelski earlier in the game was really a fluky goal. Maybe he's still rusty from the long layoff that he had. Normally, Fleury looks like he's having fun and even when being outshot, he has a swagger about him where you know no matter how bad we play, he's going to win this game on his back. Tonight he didn't have that look at all. I thought he was beat quite a bit and his glove hand seemed slow. The posts saved him from a few goals that could've really ended the game earlier. Even with 2018 playoff Flower, 3 of those goals were impossible to stop. We really need to help him the next game with the first goal and control the puck and take it to them. And not with just hits. With shot after shot after shot at Jones and hope a few more get past him to break his confidence and take the crowd out of the game.
The "top line" is just too weak physically against other teams lines that are bigger than them. One of the wingers needs to be swapped out for one of our bigger forwards. It was ok last year when they were a forechecking machine getting turnover after turnover that turned into odd man rushes and the puck in the back of the net. If the so-called top line wants to stay together, they need to do some damage.
I really believe that if Glass can play center next year, that Karlsson (if he's still here) should be moved to winger. He just flat out sucks at face offs and might do better as winger.
On paper the sharks are the better team and they showed it. Their stars came through. Stone showed up, but one man can't win the game.
Lots of those in the media and throughout the community I heard about how the last few weeks the games didn't matter and now they will turn the switch on. It still looks like they are the same team from the last 2 weeks. I can live with a game where we lose while giving the other team everything we got even if it's a blowout. What I can't stand is these low effort games all season long and that continued tonight. I also thought that the effort would be better than the last few weeks of the season, but it was just as bad. The sharks stunk in the last 2 weeks, but they certainly played hard. Was it because of home ice? VGK could have had home ice if they just didn't stink it up in the last few weeks of the season and in other parts of the season against teams teams that we should have not lost to.
I hope this is the last frustrating game of the playoffs. I can deal with losses if the effort and compete level is there. I can't stand these lazy games. Sure the refs were bad, but it's still on the team to overcome that and play well.
I really hope that GMGM trades Holden in the off season. Even if that means retaining half of his salary. Do not let this guy play for us next year. He still watches the puck while not moving his feet. His contract is worse than Reaves and that's a hard feat to over come.
Let's win game 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ....or at least come out playing angry and taking control of the game early setting the tone of a complete reversal of game 1's pathetic showing and play VGK hockey as we know that they can do.
Go!
