GDT: 1/15/15 - 7:30PM EDT - Edmonton VS Tampa Bay

[HoseEmDown]

So were blaming this on ice time now? Hilarious how many excuses are made for him. He's been on both powerplays played with skilled players and dosent score. The only time he looks like a nhl caliber player is when he's on the 4th line. 0 assists in 30+games on the highest scoring team in the league is horrendous. Maybe he's just not that good?

I'm not blaming it on ice time but you can't do much with 6 minutes. He got time on the PP when the entire team was garbage and still is on the PP, I believe he still has one of the last 5 we've scored.

Assists don't mean ****, the point is to score goals which he does. His GPG is 6th best on the team. So he's at the end of his shift so he dumps it in then changes, Johnson beats everyone to the puck, dangles around the entire team and feeds Kucherov for the goal yet Connolly gets the second assist. Did he do anything to earn that point? The kid has a sick shot, it's hard to showcase that with 4th liners who can't get it to him in dangerous areas. He's good, JT Brown is just not good.

 

[Todd1a]

I want to see callahan back with Stamkos his play has not missed a beat and he can only help Stamkos as this point. I feel him mixed with guys like paquette or killorn kind of make Cally's efforts go out the window more with paquette than killorn, him and killorn have meshed well. When Flip and Cally where with Stamkos they looked good. Wish they scored, could of made a stronger point.

It's funny guys behind me at the beginning of the game are asking eachother who the hell is on the Stamkos line.

Honestly, is it a crazy thing to put your top 6 scorers in the top 6? I'm not sold on this shutdown line, and think it is more important to have 2 very strong scoring lines, and we had that in the 3rd period.

Agreed go back to flipper stamkos callahan palat Johnson and kucherov in the top six. I also think vladdy is a improvement from drouin in the line up right now at least.

 

[DFC]

Agreed go back to flipper stamkos callahan palat Johnson and kucherov in the top six. I also think vladdy is a improvement from drouin in the line up right now at least.

I think Vladdy will be playing in Binghamton tomorrow night.

 

[iwtb*]

How did we do? Watched the highlights at dtmts.com and the first 2 periods looked awful.

 

[Leonardo87]

I'm not blaming it on ice time but you can't do much with 6 minutes. He got time on the PP when the entire team was garbage and still is on the PP, I believe he still has one of the last 5 we've scored.

Assists don't mean ****, the point is to score goals which he does. His GPG is 6th best on the team. So he's at the end of his shift so he dumps it in then changes, Johnson beats everyone to the puck, dangles around the entire team and feeds Kucherov for the goal yet Connolly gets the second assist. Did he do anything to earn that point? The kid has a sick shot, it's hard to showcase that with 4th liners who can't get it to him in dangerous areas. He's good, JT Brown is just not good.

I think second assists can sometimes be overrated, depending on the play. I've seen guys make excellent plays to create a turnover, that lead to a goal, but don't get a point. So it really all depends.

 

[Sky04]

I'm not blaming it on ice time but you can't do much with 6 minutes. He got time on the PP when the entire team was garbage and still is on the PP, I believe he still has one of the last 5 we've scored.

Assists don't mean ****, the point is to score goals which he does. His GPG is 6th best on the team. So he's at the end of his shift so he dumps it in then changes, Johnson beats everyone to the puck, dangles around the entire team and feeds Kucherov for the goal yet Connolly gets the second assist. Did he do anything to earn that point? The kid has a sick shot, it's hard to showcase that with 4th liners who can't get it to him in dangerous areas. He's good, JT Brown is just not good.

Totally right dude, up until this game Palat (9goals) and Connolly (8goals) were on the same level. It's ok though cause he's still better than Filppula (8 goals in 46 games) compared to Connolly's 8 in 33.

 

[Tmix]

Totally right dude, up until this game Palat (9goals) and Connolly (8goals) were on the same level. It's ok though cause he's still better than Filppula (8 goals in 46 games) compared to Connolly's 8 in 33.

Finally! someone sees his value

 

[FinnLightning26]

We played like **** for the most part but managed to steal a win there. We play a better team and I think this game is over after two periods. Defense especially was bad tonight. I don't know if it's just me but Garrison probably played his worst game as a Lightning player. He seemed to miss a lot of passes.

Bishop played pretty well tonight. Nothing he could've done on those two goals. Stamkos and Palat with awesome snipes. Nesterov was very impressive once again besides from that one Carle-like pass in the own zone.

We have to step up our game against the Avalanche. They have played really well lately and Varlamov has heated up. Will be a tough game for sure.

 

[LightningStrikes]

I guess Edmonton forgot about Drej...

 

[zeykshade]

We played like **** for the most part but managed to steal a win there. We play a better team and I think this game is over after two periods. Defense especially was bad tonight. I don't know if it's just me but Garrison probably played his worst game as a Lightning player. He seemed to miss a lot of passes.

Bishop played pretty well tonight. Nothing he could've done on those two goals. Stamkos and Palat with awesome snipes. Nesterov was very impressive once again besides from that one Carle-like pass in the own zone.

We have to step up our game against the Avalanche. They have played really well lately and Varlamov has heated up. Will be a tough game for sure.

Sustr and Nesterov, best D tonight. Nesterov made a couple bad plays, but typically hustled to rectify them. Gave up one bad pass that resulted in a shot which Bishop ate up easily. He's making Mark Barberio irrelevant in the future plans of this team. They play a similar game, but Nesterov is, small sample size, better in the defensive end, will actually seal people off/hit them against the boards and is every bit as good from the Blueline In, as Barbs is. Barbs didn't have a bad game, just not as noticeable as Nesterov.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Sustr and Nesterov, best D tonight. Nesterov made a couple bad plays, but typically hustled to rectify them. Gave up one bad pass that resulted in a shot which Bishop ate up easily. He's making Mark Barberio irrelevant in the future plans of this team. They play a similar game, but Nesterov is, small sample size, better in the defensive end, will actually seal people off/hit them against the boards and is every bit as good from the Blueline In, as Barbs is. Barbs didn't have a bad game, just not as noticeable as Nesterov.

Yeah, I think Barberio is as good as gone after this season. Nesterov is already catching up on him and we have atleast Koekkoek and Blujus coming up in the AHL. Barberio can probably make a nice little career for himself in some bottom teams during the next few years but there really isn't a place for him on this team anymore. I think he'll be in Europe in about four to five years.

 

[PaulGG]

We deserved a loss as Edmonton came to play 60 minutes and we clearly were out of sync most of the game. Our passing was not clicking and we were frankly lucky on several really bad turnovers in our end. Without Bishop we lose. Silver lining is good teams find a way even when they don't play their best game.

 

[Bolt32]

Something to keep in mind off. From what I remember, Nesterov and Kucherov are actually really good friends off the ice stretching all the way back before either one of them were drafted. Could effect Yzerman's decision making on who ever stays and who ever doesn't.

 

[zeykshade]

Something to keep in mind off. From what I remember, Nesterov and Kucherov are actually really good friends off the ice stretching all the way back before either one of them were drafted. Could effect Yzerman's decision making on who ever stays and who ever doesn't.

And all of Cooper's Troopers and Cooper himself love Barberio. He's been decent in the defensive end when he's had the chance to play imo and makes the ideal Cooper Defensive plays more frequently now.

He made an ideal play, in the Cooper-Style, when he stripped Hall of the puck and instantly put the puck on the stick of JT Brown in the Neutral Zone. That's the D Cooper loves. Stick Checks and transition instantly. Not a whole lot of room for Stay-At-Home D in Cooper's world. I think this is also why Nesterov got the callup rather than Witkowski, would would seemingly replace Gudas better.

 

[Leonardo87]

We deserved a loss as Edmonton came to play 60 minutes and we clearly were out of sync most of the game. Our passing was not clicking and we were frankly lucky on several really bad turnovers in our end. Without Bishop we lose. Silver lining is good teams find a way even when they don't play their best game.

Lines were brutual even tko was off a little the first 2 periods. I hope Coop keeps these lines from the 3rd moving forward. All were able to keep pressure better and not give Edmonton any chance to come back .

 

[xteesy]

Gotta say after wtching that replay, neither of those goals were on Bishop. He was the freakin anchor that game. Both goals he made the initial save and then the puck went in off the rebound.

 

[PaulGG]

Lines were brutual even tko was off a little the first 2 periods. I hope Coop keeps these lines from the 3rd moving forward. All were able to keep pressure better and not give Edmonton any chance to come back .

It appeared we just had three lines in the 3rd with little bit of variation. 2 scoring and one shutdown since we were trying to score and comeback. Flip centering Stammer and Cally was interesting. I like the way we played late in the 3rd but again we shouldn't have to play comeback hockey against the Oilers. I hope we can snap out of the weak play by Saturday night

 

[More 2004]

Something to keep in mind off. From what I remember, Nesterov and Kucherov are actually really good friends off the ice stretching all the way back before either one of them were drafted. Could effect Yzerman's decision making on who ever stays and who ever doesn't.

That didn't work out too well for Downie.

 

[Bolt32]

That didn't work out too well for Downie.

Did for Palat and Johnson.

To be fair as well, Downie took some really stupid penalties as well. Probably between that and Al Murray whispering in Yzerman's ear about this Russian kid stoning the crap out of everyone in Russia, was probably what made him pull on the deal more than anything.

 

[MattM92]

Did for Palat and Johnson.

To be fair as well, Downie took some really stupid penalties as well. Probably between that and Al Murray whispering in Yzerman's ear about this Russian kid stoning the crap out of everyone in Russia, was probably what made him pull on the deal more than anything.

Can someone photoshop Yzerman as Theoden (King of Rohan) and Al Murray as Grima Wormtongue?

 

[Brie]

Looks like they've kept aome of the lines together for todays practice:

Filppula - Stamkos - Callahan
Palat - Vladdy (Johnson wasn't there but could just be having a maintenance day) - Kucherov
Killorn - Paquette - Connolly
Morrow - Boyle - Drouin

I actually wouldn't mind seeing that 1st line again (hard to forget the 1st game against the rangers with those three on one line), but I don't like having Drouin on the 4th line, I would switch him with Connolly if we keep those lines.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Gotta say after wtching that replay, neither of those goals were on Bishop. He was the freakin anchor that game. Both goals he made the initial save and then the puck went in off the rebound.

Bishop is the main reason Tampa didn't lose that game indeed. It's reassuring to see him play like this...

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Yeah, I think Barberio is as good as gone after this season. Nesterov is already catching up on him and we have atleast Koekkoek and Blujus coming up in the AHL. Barberio can probably make a nice little career for himself in some bottom teams during the next few years but there really isn't a place for him on this team anymore. I think he'll be in Europe in about four to five years.

I don't know whether Carle was injured or we should read too much into this but here is the respective TOI in the decisive 3rd period
Garisson= 8:35
Sustr= 7:55
Stralman= 6:30
Nesterov= 5:50
Barberio= 5:20
Carle= 2:30

 

[The Macho King]

I don't know whether Carle was injured or we should read too much into this but here is the respective TOI in the decisive 3rd period
Garisson= 8:35
Sustr= 7:55
Stralman= 6:30
Nesterov= 5:50
Barberio= 5:20
Carle= 2:30

His mistakes are getting too numerous and serious to ignore. If he's not on the third pairing, left side, he's exposed.

 

[The Gongshow]

I don't know whether Carle was injured or we should read too much into this
Carle= 2:30

Hmmmm... I wonder if there is a trade in the works involving Carle and Connolly...