GDT: 10/26/19 - 7:00PM EDT - Nashville vs Tampa Bay

[GoHockey]

We gotta win one for this goalie

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

ok hmmm liked one period disliked two periods and overtime.... 14 shots over 2 periods if we are going to change identity is NOT acceptable.... stanley cup team NO can we make the playoffs playing this way the effort work tonight YES..... will we at some point this season play up to level we should? hope so cause then the trains coming down the tracks and you is standing in the way......

saw many glimpses tonight of both cirelli and point fasttttttttttttttt so improvement from last game where i felt were invisible.....

got really nothing bad to say OBViously we be a work in progress liking some things .... also cooper has not lost the team they working through a stretch hated its to start year cause if we go on some tear at a point that might not be a great thing with how we stop working at times.....

if we continue to work hard we will get through this fine we dont want to peak here anyway I dont ..... im ok with the point nash is still a very gooooooood team def top 8 in league and can beat anyone even minus guys that were out in this league on any given night.....

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

McElhinney must be scratching his head in the locker room. Not sure what he has to do in his combined 3 games to get a win. Domingue made it look so easy playing average.

 

[JoVel]

McElhinney must be scratching his head in the locker room. Not sure what he has to do in his combined 3 games to get a win. Domingue made it look so easy playing average.

Well us averaging like 5 goals with Dom in nrt certainly helped.

 

[These Are The Days]

Alright, I've calmed down I'm over it. Stupid ass penalties and not being able to kill one notwithstanding, we look good/decent. I'd rather us have to figure out special teams than 5v5 and I'd rather not have a redux of us peaking too early. I love the fact that we are engaging play more physically than in years past. I love the fact Palat isn't broken anymore. I love the fact that we are trying to shed our old identity in favor of a new and improved one that I like much more. Cooper still pisses me off because he had the team ready to play (mostly) but stupid bench minors and not being able to kill a damn penalty cost us. Get it together. But otherwise, I'm okay with the work in progress. I'm irritated as hell but I can see the big picture of what the Lightning are TRYING to do and I'm fine with it. But on the other hand I cannot possibly fault people for being so grouchy right now. This kind of stuff has dragged on long enough. I'd be screaming from the rooftops if I didn't see said bigger picture right now.

For every legitimate thing I have to be unhappy about I feel like I have 2 things to legitimately be happy about. Small victories I guess but a LONG way to go. Thank God I stand to miss so many games working late this year.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Next up is 2-win NJ and 3-win NYR. Gotta take advantage before we have to play the Isles at Nassau Coliseum, where we don't have great history.

 

[TeslaCoilFan]

How does our PK get that bad over a season? It's baffling. The 2 bench minors are unacceptable. And Kuch needs to play like he cares again.

PK is partly personnel change.
Top 4 SH TOI/GP last season
McDonagh 3:08 - play has not been consistent over these first set of games
Strålman 2:55 - top pair on the PK for the Panthers which is now #8 in the League with 84.5% (we're #29 with 69.4%)
Cernak 2:23 - still pretty good
Girardi 2:15 - retired & running an appropriately named "Block Party" podcast

The bench minors deserve multiple bag skates. Kuch is...Kuch. :::sigh:::

But there were some positive signs of an altered/changed structure which hopefully will pay off. Having Stammer on fire and Pally back to his old self doesn't hurt either.

 

[Bozo Nicholson]

Next up is 2-win NJ and 3-win NYR. Gotta take advantage before we have to play the Isles at Nassau Coliseum, where we don't have great history.

I'll be truly disgusted if they drop a stinker to NJ. Ottawa had a vengeful Vladdy....NJ has a shitty Hynes.

 

[Stammertime91]

Shattenkirk still has more goals than Kucherov.


That is all.

 

[Hoek]

You can't take tons of stupid penalties AND not be able to kill them. Ugh. Did a lot of good stuff just to waste it on that crap.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

we aint beating jersey trap game we doomed

 

[Steazy Doo]

we aint beating jersey trap game we doomed

lel

 

[Todd1a]

This was a game winnable game we dumped down the drain tonight

 

[DFC]

Our PK is just shockingly bad. PP is... Well, it doesn't look great, but the results are actually not awful. A 25% PP over the course of the season would have us vying for 1st. Not as good as last year, obviously. I have no idea why the change Coop chose to make was removing Point from PP1. It won't really make a difference so long as Kuch can't connect on passes, but still, that makes no sense.

Everything else is a process. We're trying to teach an old dog a new trick. Time will tell if we're reinventing our identity or just going through a midlife crisis, which will leave us nothing but embarrassed.

 

[Sky04]

Our PK is just shockingly bad. PP is... Well, it doesn't look great, but the results are actually not awful. A 25% PP over the course of the season would have us vying for 1st. Not as good as last year, obviously. I have no idea why the change Coop chose to make was removing Point from PP1. It won't really make a difference so long as Kuch can't connect on passes, but still, that makes no sense.

Everything else is a process. We're trying to teach an old dog a new trick. Time will tell if we're reinventing our identity or just going through a midlife crisis, which will leave us nothing but embarrassed.

My thoughts exactly, Cooper can try whatever he wants this year - that includes going completely against the grain of which this team was built to be but it'll be the sword he dies on without a Cup win. I don't really have any confidence he'll get the job done.

 

[Powerplay17]

Amazed by the baby steps talk around here. This team is “supposed” to be a SC top contender. Yet we’re looking for small victories and improvements like some young team still trying to find its way.

What nonsense. Team loaded with playoff tested high level guys and this is what expectations are now? If this doesn’t perfectly illustrate this team’s failings and underachieving.

Team is still too soft and easy to play against. Garbage PK is a prime example. A new HC and a large roster makeover is due. As currently constructed this team will continue to tease and fall short.

 

[DFC]

Amazed by the baby steps talk around here. This team is “supposed” to be a SC top contender. Yet we’re looking for small victories and improvements like some young team still trying to find its way.

What nonsense. Team loaded with playoff tested high level guys and this is what expectations are now? If this doesn’t perfectly illustrate this team’s failings and underachieving.

Team is still too soft and easy to play against. Garbage PK is a prime example. A new HC and a large roster makeover is due. As currently constructed this team will continue to tease and fall short.

We're implementing an entirely new structure. It's not gonna happen over night.

I'm with you on the PK, but as far as expectations? We needed to redefine them. It's not longer a HUGE regular season, because we know that doesn't automatically translate to playoff success. Expectations are now figuring out a way to play that will work out in the playoffs. Which means, in a lot of cases, breaking habits that are half a decade old.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

i know kuch has been bad on power play but worse has been our so called zone entry on power plays this year ... it really has been like they all forgot how to play the game after the sleep and we have post traumatic stress disorder at this point and have to relearn everything .....

 

[The Macho King]

i know kuch has been bad on power play but worse has been our so called zone entry on power plays this year ... it really has been like they all forgot how to play the game after the sleep and we have post traumatic stress disorder at this point and have to relearn everything .....

Yeah if we lose the faceoff the PP might as well be over.

 

[ccman68]

Just call up Domingue. Our guys don’t bother trying when we have a good goalie.

 

[Master P]

If the team continues to play the way they did last night then I think people will be signing a different tune pretty soon. They beat themselves by taking bad penalties and a bad pk, but they're overall play was great. If they keep playing that style then it will only get better with time. The major focus right now should be on the pp and pk. I don't think the issue is being too "soft". I think the issue is playing soft, if that makes sense. I don't think they need to go out there and level everyone with huge hits, they need to do what they did last night and work hard. They had so much success when they battled and cycled the puck down low. If they can drill that into everyone's head (looking at kuch) then I think it pays dividends come playoff time. Time will tell if this actually happens but I must admit that I am rather optimistic with how things are going to turn out

 

[DFC]

If the team continues to play the way they did last night then I think people will be signing a different tune pretty soon. They beat themselves by taking bad penalties and a bad pk, but they're overall play was great. If they keep playing that style then it will only get better with time. The major focus right now should be on the pp and pk. I don't think the issue is being too "soft". I think the issue is playing soft, if that makes sense. I don't think they need to go out there and level everyone with huge hits, they need to do what they did last night and work hard. They had so much success when they battled and cycled the puck down low. If they can drill that into everyone's head (looking at kuch) then I think it pays dividends come playoff time. Time will tell if this actually happens but I must admit that I am rather optimistic with how things are going to turn out

This. Size isn't a prerequisite of playing with grit and battling. Being TOO small can hurt (Gourde), but guys like Point and Stamkos etc can more than hold their own in battles if it's something we're working at every single day.

It's like training for a boxing match and then when the playoffs start it turns out you should have been training MMA.

I want Coop gone. But he's here. And my main complaint about him is he doesn't make changes when it's clear he needs to make changes. Well, he finally made a change. And I'd rather him prove me wrong and win a cup, or at least go deep, than be right and watch the team lose again. He's doing the thing I, and many others, have wanted him to do, so, at least for the time being, I'll wait and see how it works out.

 

[FinnLightning26]

We can't beat the Preds even if our lives depended on it. They were missing two of their best players too.

 

[Master P]

We can't beat the Preds even if our lives depended on it. They were missing two of their best players too.

Its just one of those teams we have no luck against. Last year Tampa outplayed them in both games but Rinne stood on his head and stole both games. In this one we beat ourselves.
Just one of those weird things in hockey.

 

[Sky04]

This. Size isn't a prerequisite of playing with grit and battling. Being TOO small can hurt (Gourde), but guys like Point and Stamkos etc can more than hold their own in battles if it's something we're working at every single day.

It's like training for a boxing match and then when the playoffs start it turns out you should have been training MMA.

I want Coop gone. But he's here. And my main complaint about him is he doesn't make changes when it's clear he needs to make changes. Well, he finally made a change. And I'd rather him prove me wrong and win a cup, or at least go deep, than be right and watch the team lose again. He's doing the thing I, and many others, have wanted him to do, so, at least for the time being, I'll wait and see how it works out.

Here's where I disagree, to completely change the team structure now screams panic move. We've already seen the Pens and Hawks win multiple cups with a similar style we play and in my opinion is the best style suited for the lightning. We're capable of winning that way, they've been to multiple game 7's on deep runs, the style of play works they just have adjust better in a deep series.

Cooper's biggest weakness isn't that he doesn't make changes it's that he isn't able to adjust in a small timeframe in the playoffs. His teams have always been structured, this new system won't fix his biggest weakness. No system is perfect, what happens when another coach adjusts to Cooper's new structure in games 5,6,7 like we've seen before?