GDT: We’re not in Dallas anymore CAR@DAL

[A Star is Burns]

I personally think the Bruins beat us because they're one of the best, deepest teams in the league and we were still building to that. Now, a physical edge is part of their being better and deeper, but we could have had the exact same level of physicality, but been better and deeper ourselves and beaten them. As mentioned above, we played other physical teams in this incarnation and won. At least last year it looked like we had closed the talent gap a bit.

And to be clear, I would never steer clear of adding physical players. I'm just for always adding the best talent you can. And we have a handful of guys that play a tough game and others that don't entirely shrink in that type of game.

 

[MinJaBen]

I personally think the Bruins beat us because they're one of the best, deepest teams in the league and we were still building to that. Now, a physical edge is part of their being better and deeper, but we could have had the exact same level of physicality, but been better and deeper ourselves and beaten them. As mentioned above, we played other physical teams in this incarnation and won. At least last year it looked like we had closed the talent gap a bit.

And to be clear, I would never steer clear of adding physical players. I'm just for always adding the best talent you can. And we have a handful of guys that play a tough game and others that don't entirely shrink in that type of game.

I think it's pretty clear that the most important toughness that Boston has over the Canes the last two years is between the ears. We were competitive with them in each game last year but folded like cheap suits after discouraging goals. Other than the Svech getting his leg twisted while getting taken down by Chara the Giant, it wasn't being "non-physical" that killed us, it was the lack of belief that they could beat this team that killed us.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I think it's pretty clear that the most important toughness that Boston has over the Canes the last two years is between the ears. We were competitive with them in each game last year but folded like cheap suits after discouraging goals. Other than the Svech getting his leg twisted while getting taken down by Chara the Giant, it wasn't being "non-physical" that killed us, it was the lack of belief that they could beat this team that killed us.

Certainly I agree with that too. And a big part of that is they have a better, more experienced core, even among their young guys. That's one of the ways they built that mental toughness is being in it most years for a while. We're in year three of that and hopefully growing.

 

[NotOpie]

Wow, if Ned can play like that consistently, it would be like hitting the lottery. His ability to play the puck adds a dimension most goalies don't have. Expect an occasional, WTF!, but the good will far outweigh the bad.

The one thing I noticed is his vision....he seems to be able to quickly ID the open man....even farther down the ice.

That said, even though Pavelski's shot was a rocket, I did have nightmarish flashbacks of "Glove Side High" Cam Ward for a brief second....

It was a great read and a great play but it was an equally terrible decision by Aho. Trying to be too smart for his own good. 9/10 times I’m sure he scores by just driving the net or flipping it in.

Agree with those that said he was trying to help out his bud. My sense is he could have kept driving the net, attempted a weak shot that may have gotten through or only partially been deflected and Turbo still would have had the opportunity. And that picture of him hanging his head on the bench says all that really needs to be said. He knew it was a bad decision and he definitely beat himself up over it.

 

[AD Skinner]

I still sometimes beat myself up about flubbed shots, bad decisions etc I made in games 10+ years ago. I'm sure he'll be fine moving forward and its not like he's been prone to brain farts in the past

 

[Rick Davis]

I couldn't be happier with how skilled the team has become, and how well they are playing, and they have become tougher in certain aspects like play along the boards and forechecking. But we can't pretend that they didn't walk into the buzzsaw of Boston's physical aggression two years in a row in the postseason.

100% agree with this...we’re definitely tougher overall than we were 3 years ago but we’re still not Boston tough on the physical side. Even Washington comes to mind...the Craps are underrated in terms of their ability to shift from skill to aggressive physicality when it suits them. I’m hoping against hope that Paquette will fill that void in our lineup and most of all stay healthy. We don’t need a Ferland 2.0 scenario...