GDT: 12/23/23 - 7:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Washington

[Sky04]

Kind of a dead building tonight. That certainly helped keep things nice and boring to get us to OT.



I think that's kind of been the positive of having Fleury in the lineup, who played 21:48 this game. He's not skilled, he's limited in ability, and he knows it, and he stays within that. He's not going to attempt the passes he knows he cant make. He's not going to try to do too much, and so he doesn't put himself in trouble.

Guess who hasn't played the last 3 games?

Fleury played 21mins tonight and Perbix looked pretty comfortable in the 17mins he got. I wouldn't bank on Fleury holding up that sort of play but he's definitely filling in for Sergachev nicely at 1/11th the cost.

 

[DFC]

Ok, you're 100% trolling me.

Did you not see the caps player skate in front of him and completely screen him?

It's like you dont realize goalies have to deal with traffic during games.

 

[Antiramie]

It's like you dont realize goalies have to deal with traffic during games.

I mean there's a difference between a fixture in front of the goalie who the latter can peak around if need be and someone coming from out of nowhere to block your sightline before you can track the puck release.

Not to mention we just suddenly pretending like screens don't make all goalies' jobs more difficult?

Lastly, the fact that you're still fighting this hours after the guy posted a .971 SV% is *chef kiss*

 

[OffBy1]

That was an ugly approach, but a beautiful shot by Heddy to win it. 27+ minutes from him tonight.

I don't think we're better off without Serge (which I assuming is mostly joking), but I would be for Cooper giving some of his nearly 23 minutes a night to Fleury and keeping him and Cernak as our 2nd pair with Serge and Raddysh as our 3rd pair until Serge stops with the terrible puck plays in our end. Maybe him sitting out these couple of games from the injury will allow him to reset. I don't know about Fleury being a long term solution, but it's good to see him improving even if he's doing it just by making simple plays as someone pointed out.

Two games in a row where we've turned the puck over less than our opponents!

A few people seem eager to pounce on Vasy. Replays showed he was screened by both De Haan up close and Jeannot near the shooter on the first goal. And as Master P illustrated, also on the disallowed goal. But it's still Vasy's fault when it's literally impossible to see the puck? I imagine we usually feel good about our players when Hedman scores out from the blueline and Paul or someone else took away the opposing goalie's eyes instead of thinking, wow their goalie sucks. He didn't look great this game but he got the job done in the game and in the shootout.

Serge - even this year's version - would be an improvement over De Haan.

 

[Antiramie]

Yea, we pretty much know what we're getting with Serg. He ain't going anywhere. He's a fixture on that defense. Fleury playing well is hopefully a sign that we don't see much of CDH going forward and maybe even that we don't have to play Serg as a workhorse.

Anyone who thinks we're actually better off without Serg in the lineup is out of their mind.

 

[Meuracas]

What if instead of the shootout. They treat it like the all-star game accuracy contest?

Except you get to have your goalie in net and the shooter gets 10 seconds to shoot 4 pucks.

Winner with the most goals wins. If there is a tie after the first 2 shooters then you go to sudden death.

I think all games tied after OT should be decided by a last-man-standing bench clearing brawl.

 

[Bozo Nicholson]

Missed the game, had to watch the VOD.

Goddamn that was a snoozefest.

 

[Maelmoor]

Three wins in a row! Merry Christmas!

 

[LightningStrikes]

Merry Christmas annd happy holidays everyone!

 

[Sky04]

We're better without Sergachev, CDH and about 9.2M in capspace, to be clear. It's obvious we're missing certain types of defenseman on the backend.

You can argue Hedman in place of Sergahcev also, they both need to be playing the same role to be effective and it's pretty clear we cater to Hedman at the moment. So our most expensive defenseman who's best asset is his offense currently plays with the leftovers, 2nd PP unit and gets secondary offensive opportunities. Again, they just seem redundant, it's certainly not like the Hedman-McDonaugh 1-2 punch where they cover eachothers weaknesses.

 

[Hoek]

Vasi does need to fight better through screens, but the one that went in is a poor example. Not sure what he could've done on that one. However, look at the goal that was disallowed. It went in because he slid out of position to try and find it, when if he had held his position it might have hit him even off the deflection. Not sure why he dropped and moved that much instead of trying to peek and stay big there.

 

[These Are The Days]

We're better without Sergachev, CDH and about 9.2M in capspace, to be clear. It's obvious we're missing certain types of defenseman on the backend.

You can argue Hedman in place of Sergahcev also, they both need to be playing the same role to be effective and it's pretty clear we cater to Hedman at the moment. So our most expensive defenseman who's best asset is his offense currently plays with the leftovers, 2nd PP unit and gets secondary offensive opportunities. Again, they just seem redundant, it's certainly not like the Hedman-McDonaugh 1-2 punch where they cover eachothers weaknesses.

We don't need to get rid of Sergachev as much as he needs to stop being such a putz. You and I overwhelmingly agree that his absence has cut down on mistakes. I think a better solution going forward is for Coop to keep a short leash.

 

[JoVel]

I'm pretty sure this is only the second time this season we've won three games in a row.

 

[bigdaddio]

I'm pretty sure this is only the second time this season we've won three games in a row.

The offense is going to score 4+ quite a bit. And if Vasy plays like this game we can also win some 2-1 where the offense is stymied. Instead of most of the season were we lost a ton of games 4-3 or similar. Keep it up, get in the playoffs and who knows from there.
Looking at schedule through Nov 9 we were 5-4 when scoring 3 points or more. We didn't have a single win not scoring 3 points.

 

[Master P]

It's like you dont realize goalies have to deal with traffic during games.

Ok, so you're legit just trolling. Good to know. On to the ignore list you go.

 

[These Are The Days]

Ok, so you're legit just trolling. Good to know. On to the ignore list you go.

It's not my business but I am going to politely point out that this isn't the brightest idea. DFC never blatantly trolls. Take it from a guy who does. I do so sarcastically and in satire of course. But he is legitimately one of the very best posters we have. I think this is a case where both of you are right. Vasy wasn't seeing shit on that goal. No one was stopping that. But to DFC's point, that's a shot every goaltender faces a dozen times a game and Vasy of all people should know it. But even in my own assessment he is consistently unprepared to do anything about it when this keeps happening. I swear to God I sometimes feel like we've gone from Vasy to Goldberg the goalie who doesn't want to get shot at in the Mighty Ducks movie

I love me some big cat but the biggest problem with the Lightning (aside from our coaching being a deliberate scheme to just flat out protect a lead 58 minutes a game assuming we score 2 minutes in) is the constant need for babysitting to our star players. Stamkos needs it. Sergachev needs it. And now freaking Vasy does too. Lalonde spilled the beans about long distance shots and our scheme is to trust Vasy to stop them. Somethings gotta give and I would rather it be Vasy.

But in all, DFC just doesn't mince words much

 

[Master P]

It's not my business but I am going to politely point out that this isn't the brightest idea. DFC never blatantly trolls. Take it from a guy who does. I do so sarcastically and in satire of course. But he is legitimately one of the very best posters we have. I think this is a case where both of you are right. Vasy wasn't seeing shit on that goal. No one was stopping that. But to DFC's point, that's a shot every goaltender faces a dozen times a game and Vasy of all people should know it. But even in my own assessment he is consistently unprepared to do anything about it when this keeps happening. I swear to God I sometimes feel like we've gone from Vasy to Goldberg the goalie who doesn't want to get shot at in the Mighty Ducks movie

I love me some big cat but the biggest problem with the Lightning (aside from our coaching being a deliberate scheme to just flat out protect a lead 58 minutes a game assuming we score 2 minutes in) is the constant need for babysitting to our star players. Stamkos needs it. Sergachev needs it. And now freaking Vasy does too. Lalonde spilled the beans about long distance shots and our scheme is to trust Vasy to stop them. Somethings gotta give and I would rather it be Vasy.

But in all, DFC just doesn't mince words much

I appreciate it but he gone.

 

[Rschmitz]

Those moving screens happen dozens of times a game, goalies can fight through those too. That was pretty much a perfect shot though. I think the main concern being voiced is again it’s another long range shot and right now you have to wonder if Vasys focus or eyes are there. I think it’s fair to be skeptical right now

 

[Sky04]

"Someone disagrees with me and my 12 year old brain can't handle it"

-guy who posts about ignoring people like he's relevant.

 

[Rschmitz]

Ok, so you're legit just trolling. Good to know. On to the ignore list you go.

DFC isn’t someone who trolls or goes out of his way to be disrespectful like some others here, if he’s disagreeing with you it’s not meant to be petty

 

[Sky04]

I think all games tied after OT should be decided by a last-man-standing bench clearing brawl.

So that's why we spent 5 picks on Jeannot, JBB has the script.

 

[Master P]

Those moving screens happen dozens of times a game, goalies can fight through those too. That was pretty much a perfect shot though. I think the main concern being voiced is again it’s another long range shot and right now you have to wonder if Vasys focus or eyes are there. I think it’s fair to be skeptical right now

Are we just gonna ignore all the long range shots he does stop?

He's a goalie. He's going to get scored against and let in goals.

He let in 1 goal tonight that he was screened on. He stopped 33 of 34 shots.

I mean all people have to do is go watch highlights of other games. Long range shots going in is not something unique to Vassy lol.

Its part of the game.

 

[Rschmitz]

Are we just gonna ignore all the long range shots he does stop?

He's a goalie. He's going to get scored against and let in goals.

He let in 1 goal tonight that he was screened on. He stopped 33 of 34 shots.

I mean all people have to do is go watch highlights of other games. Long range shots going in is not something unique to Vassy lol.

Its part of the game.

I’m not ignoring it, but when he was “elite” he was locked in and saving everything, the long range ones weren’t a concern. If it seems like we are being hypercritical it is because we are, that’s the bar Vasy has set

 

[Antiramie]

We're better without Sergachev, CDH and about 9.2M in capspace, to be clear. It's obvious we're missing certain types of defenseman on the backend.

You can argue Hedman in place of Sergahcev also, they both need to be playing the same role to be effective and it's pretty clear we cater to Hedman at the moment. So our most expensive defenseman who's best asset is his offense currently plays with the leftovers, 2nd PP unit and gets secondary offensive opportunities. Again, they just seem redundant, it's certainly not like the Hedman-McDonaugh 1-2 punch where they cover eachothers weaknesses.

The defense/team has consistently looked way more lost without Hedman in the lineup than Sergachev. But getting rid of Serg just aint happening anytime soon. And, again, he's better than CDH. It is what it is.

 

[Stammertime91]

HF Lightning getting spicy on a 3 game win streak. What a time to be alive.