GDT: 11/19/18 - 8:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Nashville

[Cmac66]

I tell you what this division is stacked, who would have thought that the sabres would be near the top with us. It sucks to lose top spot for this moment of time but it is expected with the amount of injuries which we have. Did not manage to watch the game last night but from reports seems we done alright for only some parts of the game, this team is stacked and i honestly do not know why we cannot play well for a full 60. Is it a coaching habit or are the players to over confident. Would not think the latter the amount of times we have been to the finals.

 

[DFC]

I tell you what this division is stacked, who would have thought that the sabres would be near the top with us. It sucks to lose top spot for this moment of time but it is expected with the amount of injuries which we have. Did not manage to watch the game last night but from reports seems we done alright for only some parts of the game, this team is stacked and i honestly do not know why we cannot play well for a full 60. Is it a coaching habit or are the players to over confident. Would not think the latter the amount of times we have been to the finals.

It's more because "the full 60" is a myth in the entire NHL these days.

 

[JoVel]

It's more because "the full 60" is a myth in the entire NHL these days.

Maybe instead of telling the players to play a full 60, Coop should tell them to not suck for 2/3 of the game. I feel like that would be realistic.

 

[The Macho King]

Well, took the game in at Bridgestone. It was an entertaining experience. The fans have "you suck" chants that they do thoughout the entire game. It's cute. Not surprisngly they play a lot of music. The second period really sucked. I was at the end of the ice where Heddy and Kuch scored but the other end of the ice is where the Killorn non-goal/trip occurred. I kept watching the big board and it looked like a bull$h*t call to me. I was so mad about that. Did it look any different on TV?

It looks like he fell on his own but I could see how a ref makes that call in real time.

 

[DFC]

Maybe instead of telling the players to play a full 60, Coop should tell them to not suck for 2/3 of the game. I feel like that would be realistic.

Yeah but, we took over in the 3rd mainly because we were sending a defenseman deep ALL the time. We also gave up a lot of odd man breaks, and one of them was a 2-on-0. We can't play that style for 60 minutes. Or at least, nobody does.

The new NHL is all ebbs and flows. One team gets momentum and then the other team takes over. The past few games, mainly since Stralman went down, we've had a tougher time really locking things down and playing a safe, controlled game. I mean, did Nashville "stop playing" in the 3rd? Probably not.

We got 4/6 points on the road with Domingue playing not-so-great at times, with Stralman out, and with Hedman not 100%. It wasn't pretty, but it'll work for now.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Nice gif:

 

[T REX]

Rinne is 9-0-1 against us. They had the perfect gameplan and it worked very well. Cooper was outcoached badly. They owned us. Once it went 3-1 they played back. Make no mistake that game wasn't nearly as close as the score. That's a team we would not want to see in the Finals. They would destroy us. We looked listless again to start the game.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

Rinne is 9-0-1 against us. They had the perfect gameplan and it worked very well. Cooper was outcoached badly. They owned us. Once it went 3-1 they played back. Make no mistake that game wasn't nearly as close as the score. That's a team we would not want to see in the Finals. They would destroy us. We looked listless again to start the game.

It wasn't as close as the score but it wasn't as lopsided as you're making it out to be. Also, we were far more listless in the second period than we were in the first in my opinion.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I didnt think we played a bad game. Even when they scored those goals on us didnt think they were dominating us or anything. They scored on their chances while Rinne denied ours. They played really good D until we started going at them and stopped with the cross ice passes. I thought Domingue let in a softie. I cant remember which goal it was. He was good otherwise though. Point was again dominant. The more I watch him play the more I am thinking we have to lock him up long term. Which could be costly. I thought Miller played really well again. He is using his size, speed and skill very well lately. Cirelli what more can I say about him. Love his hustle. Loved seeing Cirelli, Joseph, and Erne all getting in the Preds faces without fear. There is a lot of good to take from this game and still need to improve some things.

 

[T REX]

It wasn't as close as the score

Glad you agree. Thanks. I didn't think we came out to meet the challenge with anywhere close to their intensity. Sorry but that was ugly.

 

[Cmac66]

Maybe instead of telling the players to play a full 60, Coop should tell them to not suck for 2/3 of the game. I feel like that would be realistic.

could be onto something here, ever thought of being a NHL coach?

 

[God King Fudge]

They're gonna make the playoffs pretty easily.

With that out of the way, this stuff has to quit or we're gonna be sitting here again after the Cup is won talking about how we couldn't close the deal. We can't keep spotting teams goals/entire periods before we decide to get into the game. Winning the Cup is hard enough when you're on your game. When you continue to let teams work harder than you and then fail to raise up and meet their effort, you're not gonna win many games. They're talented enough to win some of them, but they won't win all of them, and they certainly won't win in the playoffs like that.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

They're gonna make the playoffs pretty easily.

With that out of the way, this stuff has to quit or we're gonna be sitting here again after the Cup is won talking about how we couldn't close the deal. We can't keep spotting teams goals/entire periods before we decide to get into the game. Winning the Cup is hard enough when you're on your game. When you continue to let teams work harder than you and then fail to raise up and meet their effort, you're not gonna win many games. They're talented enough to win some of them, but they won't win all of them, and they certainly won't win in the playoffs like that.

It's not just the players for me. It's Cooper too. It drives me crazy that, whenever it's painfully obvious it's needed, he seems to refuse to use a timeout to wake the boys up! Makes me so mad. I understand trying to save the timeout for the end of the game but, honestly, how many times do we end the game without ever even using the damned thing? I thought the second period last night, about midway through, was a perfect time to do just that. A couple of minutes after I felt that way, Nashville scored that third goal. Cooper needs to improve his in-game coaching drastically, in my view.

 

[DFC]

They're gonna make the playoffs pretty easily.

With that out of the way, this stuff has to quit or we're gonna be sitting here again after the Cup is won talking about how we couldn't close the deal. We can't keep spotting teams goals/entire periods before we decide to get into the game. Winning the Cup is hard enough when you're on your game. When you continue to let teams work harder than you and then fail to raise up and meet their effort, you're not gonna win many games. They're talented enough to win some of them, but they won't win all of them, and they certainly won't win in the playoffs like that.

In the past three games though, a lot of these goals we're spotting are because our back-up isn't making routine saves. Sure, he's making the occasional 10-bell save, but giving up weak ones is still a killer. A lot of back-ups are like that. Lindback is probably the best example of it. The only skill the guy had was making desperation, highlight reel saves. It was the Matt Carle specials we had to worry about with him... ...Maybe all that practice time against Lindback explains Matt Carle. :p

Anyway. Domingue has been adequate for a back-up, but no matter how many great saves you make, it doesn't excuse the odd softie. And he gives up way more than his share of those.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

In the past three games though, a lot of these goals we're spotting are because our back-up isn't making routine saves. Sure, he's making the occasional 10-bell save, but giving up weak ones is still a killer. A lot of back-ups are like that. Lindback is probably the best example of it. The only skill the guy had was making desperation, highlight reel saves. It was the Matt Carle specials we had to worry about with him... ...Maybe all that practice time against Lindback explains Matt Carle. :p

Anyway. Domingue has been adequate for a back-up, but no matter how many great saves you make, it doesn't excuse the odd softie. And he gives up way more than his share of those.

Could not agree more. The third goal was terrible.

 

[DFC]

Could not agree more. The third goal was terrible.

The third one's the only one I don't really hold against him. It was the first one, really, that killed our momentum. We were finishing up a very good PK and then the most routine of routine shots beat him. Second one was a good shot, but I think Vasy makes that save 9/10 times. Third one was a solid tip from the slot. I don't think Vasy stops that one either.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

The third one's the only one I don't really hold against him. It was the first one, really, that killed our momentum. We were finishing up a very good PK and then the most routine of routine shots beat him. Second one was a good shot, but I think Vasy makes that save 9/10 times. Third one was a solid tip from the slot. I don't think Vasy stops that one either.

Okay, I am confusing them then... I know one of them was bad enough for me to say, Are you effing Kidding me?? Point is he allows way too many softies past him.

 

[DFC]

Okay, I am confusing them then... I know one of them was bad enough for me to say, Are you effing Kidding me?? Point is he allows way too many softies past him.

The first one was the one it looked like he had, but it hit him under the arm and popped in. Lindback-level softie. Domingue is obviously playing a lot better than Lindback overall, but we have to accept that he's a pretty average back-up.

 

[The Macho King]

The third one's the only one I don't really hold against him. It was the first one, really, that killed our momentum. We were finishing up a very good PK and then the most routine of routine shots beat him. Second one was a good shot, but I think Vasy makes that save 9/10 times. Third one was a solid tip from the slot. I don't think Vasy stops that one either.

I actually think Vasi stops the third just because he doesn't overcommit as much as Dom does (Vasi trusts his athleticism more so he generally stays deeper while Dom is more aggressive with the angles). The third probably gets stopped just because Vasi isn't going out as aggressively to stop a shot that's going about 4 feet wide. But it was a decent chance all the same.

The second goal - I mean, Stamkos didn't play it well but he was a F playing as D, so it is what it is. It was a great shot. I don't know why Dom (who normally plays angles pretty aggressively) was so deep there.

Edit: The other thing is how many shots are just bouncing off of him + he's bungling the covers on. Vasi let's out pad rebounds a lot, but I think that's at least partly by design (saw an interview where he said he likes harder pads to shoot rebounds further out which he thinks gives him more time to react). But generally shots on his body don't end up back in the slot, and he directs pucks with his blocker well. Dom... I mean, he never swallows *anything* it seems like. It probably wouldn't have made much of a difference last night based on how bad our faceoffs were, but the end result of that is we end up spending a lot more time in the zone than we normally would.

 

[valeriammm]

Yall put up a tough game, that was definitely a nail biter till the end. I hope to see you all in the finals.

 

[Master P]

Glad you agree. Thanks. I didn't think we came out to meet the challenge with anywhere close to their intensity. Sorry but that was ugly.

'but it wasn't as lopsided as you're making it out to be. Also, we were far more listless in the second period than we were in the first in my opinion.'

Here's the rest you ignored. No need to thank me.

 

[CupsOverCash]

The third one's the only one I don't really hold against him. It was the first one, really, that killed our momentum. We were finishing up a very good PK and then the most routine of routine shots beat him. Second one was a good shot, but I think Vasy makes that save 9/10 times. Third one was a solid tip from the slot. I don't think Vasy stops that one either.

Yea it was the first goal he should have had. Right at the end of killing the powerplay. I think we killed a 5-3 before we let in the 5-4.

 

[DFC]

I actually think Vasi stops the third just because he doesn't overcommit as much as Dom does (Vasi trusts his athleticism more so he generally stays deeper while Dom is more aggressive with the angles). The third probably gets stopped just because Vasi isn't going out as aggressively to stop a shot that's going about 4 feet wide. But it was a decent chance all the same.

The second goal - I mean, Stamkos didn't play it well but he was a F playing as D, so it is what it is. It was a great shot. I don't know why Dom (who normally plays angles pretty aggressively) was so deep there.

Edit: The other thing is how many shots are just bouncing off of him + he's bungling the covers on. Vasi let's out pad rebounds a lot, but I think that's at least partly by design (saw an interview where he said he likes harder pads to shoot rebounds further out which he thinks gives him more time to react). But generally shots on his body don't end up back in the slot, and he directs pucks with his blocker well. Dom... I mean, he never swallows *anything* it seems like. It probably wouldn't have made much of a difference last night based on how bad our faceoffs were, but the end result of that is we end up spending a lot more time in the zone than we normally would.

Vasy's been pretty good at this this year. Not so much in previous years, or, at least, not consistently. We've never played well when a goalie is giving up unpredictable rebounds. We wind up running around in our own zone a lot and then, when we finally get control of the puck, the shift is more/less over and we dump it out and start the process all over again. This is what we did in front of Lindback, the early days of Vasy, and now, a lot of the time, though not as much, with Domingue. I think it's also why we were so noticeably better in front of Bishop than whoever his backup was at any given time.

 

[Master P]

So I wasn't able to catch the game last night and just saw the highlights. What was everyone's opinion on the Killorn no goal call?

 

[The Macho King]

So I wasn't able to catch the game last night and just saw the highlights. What was everyone's opinion on the Killorn no goal call?

I don't think it was a trip, but it looked like a trip at game speed. Not a bad call all things considered, even though it went against us.