2020 ECF: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Islanders | TBL leads 3-2 (Pt.2)

[2ndGenIslander]

You made that same joke in gdt last night. Get some better material

Oh did I? I meant to post it didn’t think I actually did it yet, I was a little...boozed. My B, G

 

[miscs75]

By that logic, Shattenkirk will open the game six scoring.

I think it was more out of spite for signing that contract with the Rangers and the abysmal attempt at defense they had for a few years.

 

[miscs75]

The way he reacted to that check in game 4 it looks like he plays with an injured shoulder to me.

That looked more like groin or hip based on anything. I'm going to go with hip more then groin. Pelech pinned him and barely lifted his right leg up. He collapsed right after that.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Damn Lightning injured players going to plague them again!

 

[ryerockarola]

What injury can this guy have? Plays, gets hurt, sits. Plays, gets hurt, sits. Is her re injuring the same thing?

I'm not a doctor but the way he fell and Pelech fell on him awkwardly I would guess hip Pointer, no pun intended or hip flexor.

If you've ever had one of these it's exactly how you put it. Feels kinda ok, go do something, holy heck massive pain can't do anything. ^Hip or groin as is guessed above ^

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

You’ll get 5 or 6 to 1 betting Islanders so go put your money where your mouth is.


Btw Point is coming back tomorrow. How does that make you feel?

You've been 2/2 on these Point predictions, so if you're telling me he returns, I'll take your word for it. My point (Christ, nobody lends themselves to more unintended puns than Brayden) was that I think it would be foolish to make an assumption on him returning. I don't believe the Lightning "rested" Point because of the 3-1 lead, for a variety of reasons, and if they did then that's a whole different set of misguided thinking but I'll assume he didn't play because he couldn't go. If he couldn't go last night, after re-aggravating his injury from Game 2, then, with the extremely limited amount of information we have, I could no longer assume he would be good enough to go just two nights later. I don't think that's a mistake in my thinking process.

If he plays tomorrow, I like the Lightning's chances a whole hell of a lot more. If he plays, I think it ends tomorrow night. Hopefully, win or lose, he can get through the game without yet another re-aggravation. I know it's probably weighing on him as well, this latent realization that, holy crap, without him on the ice, this team flat out can't score goals. The numbers I wrote clearly bear that out. That's a less than two goals per game average without him playing, and that won't win you anything.

 

[Master P]

Well, there was the whining when the puck was scooped behind the net. Kuch has a way of acting that fans of other teams find infantile. We get it, you guys love him. He is an acquired taste, and makes me want to barf.

At first it looked like he covered it with his hands. It's an understandable reaction.

 

[Riseonfire]

I just browsed the Tampa board...... Fans were pumping their chest after game 1 even knowing the Isles were gassed, and now they're complaining about the SCF schedule being too tight and not enough rest opportunity. How the turn tables.

Still need to play game 6 boys.

 

[miscs75]

I just browsed the Tampa board...... Fans were pumping their chest after game 1 even knowing the Isles were gassed, and now they're complaining about the SCF schedule being too tight and not enough rest opportunity. How the turn tables.

Still need to play game 6 boys.

They're also on another thread on here complaining about how the Stars would get an extra day of rest if Tampa won last night.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

What injury can this guy have? Plays, gets hurt, sits. Plays, gets hurt, sits. Is her re injuring the same thing?

Hip or ribs

 

[notDatsyuk]

You're not THIS Jamason, are you?

Nope. Older, better looking.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

You've been 2/2 on these Point predictions, so if you're telling me he returns, I'll take your word for it. My point (Christ, nobody lends themselves to more unintended puns than Brayden) was that I think it would be foolish to make an assumption on him returning. I don't believe the Lightning "rested" Point because of the 3-1 lead, for a variety of reasons, and if they did then that's a whole different set of misguided thinking but I'll assume he didn't play because he couldn't go. If he couldn't go last night, after re-aggravating his injury from Game 2, then, with the extremely limited amount of information we have, I could no longer assume he would be good enough to go just two nights later. I don't think that's a mistake in my thinking process.

If he plays tomorrow, I like the Lightning's chances a whole hell of a lot more. If he plays, I think it ends tomorrow night. Hopefully, win or lose, he can get through the game without yet another re-aggravation. I know it's probably weighing on him as well, this latent realization that, holy crap, without him on the ice, this team flat out can't score goals. The numbers I wrote clearly bear that out. That's a less than two goals per game average without him playing, and that won't win you anything.

And that's what makes it so hard (determining when he comes back)

If you look at the stats we still played well, and we played well enough to score 4. So I don't buy the lack of scoring being as bad as people say

 

[BMOK33]

I still can’t believe how poorly Sergachev played the 2 on 1. You can see he clearly slows down by the blue line or just before and decides he’s just going to attempt to break the pass up whereas I felt if he kept motoring he would have caught up to Anders Lee and maybe gotten him off the puck. Yes, obviously Lee might decide to throw it across to a wide open Eberle if Sergachev makes that decision, I just felt at that stage of the game willingly risking the two on 1 and hoping you’d get the miracle pass breakup was a bad decision

 

[Riseonfire]

I still can’t believe how poorly Sergachev played the 2 on 1. You can see he clearly slows down by the blue line or just before and decides he’s just going to attempt to break the pass up whereas I felt if he kept motoring he would have caught up to Anders Lee and maybe gotten him off the puck. Yes, obviously Lee might decide to throw it across to a wide open Eberle if Sergachev makes that decision, I just felt at that stage of the game willingly risking the two on 1 and hoping you’d get the miracle pass breakup was a bad decision

Nowadays, players are trained to stay in the lane. You have a better chance of surviving that 2-1 if you prevent the pass and make the shooter shoot.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

I haven't seen anything about him coming back. Everything I read except the post from @Whoshattenkirkshoes has said he's still up in the air.

No I said he will be back.

 

[BMOK33]

What injury can this guy have? Plays, gets hurt, sits. Plays, gets hurt, sits. Is her re injuring the same thing?

I honestly felt Cooper gambled feeling they were good enough to win last night, even without him. The idea probably was if they won and Point had 4 days off he would he worlds better and ready for Dallas vs only two off and maybe being banged up more. I don’t see any way he sits game 6. That said, Dallas probably has a better chance of winning now if Point truly is 40-50-60%

 

[notDatsyuk]

Tampa playing a real dangerous game. There's a well documented history of them not getting it done in the ECF when having opponents on the ropes. There's well documented history of the offense not stepping up and guys getting hurt.

Here we are. Offense not producing. Guys hurt. Series 3-2. Islanders tried their best to lose the game last night and Tampa didn't want to take them up on it. Hard to not see this going to 7 now.

I look at it the other way around. Two well structured teams with excellent defence going at it full tilt in classic playoff hockey, limiting chances and taking advantage of the rare mistakes. Tampa made one more mistake that the Isles were able to capitalize on.

Except for the first game, where the Isles were worn down by their previous series, it's been a battle of defense. Not counting empty net goals, a total of 17 goals in almost 14 full periods of play.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's game.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

And that's what makes it so hard (determining when he comes back)

If you look at the stats we still played well, and we played well enough to score 4. So I don't buy the lack of scoring being as bad as people say

And that's also what makes things frustrating. I'm really not trying to complain about the way the boys played - they controlled the play and were certainly the more dangerous looking team during the overtimes - but more at the situation that we find ourselves in. I apologize but I also don't apologize that, you know, this is a script I've seen before where the ending sucked. A form of sports PTSD, basically. In Conference Finals play, the Lightning have a 2-8 record when they are in position to advance to the Final with a win. Obviously, that's a terrible record. And, in any situation, it's always dangerous when you let your opponent hang around and not finish them when you have the chance.

Ultimately, while chance creation matters and shouldn't be overlooked, in any given game it can fail you. It failed us last night. And there's no guarantee Game 6 would play out the same way. Islanders can also play better than that and it wouldn't be a surprise if they do well with Trotz having the last change this time. Ultimately, some of these guys, and I couldn't care who, need to finish the chances being created. And it would be really nice if anyone outside the top line or Hedman could score some goals. This team is supposed to have decent scoring depth, but some of those guys have been nowhere to be found.

 

[DFC]

That looked more like groin or hip based on anything. I'm going to go with hip more then groin. Pelech pinned him and barely lifted his right leg up. He collapsed right after that.

Hip would not be good news. But it's realistic.

The thing is, his skating didn't look THAT far off before he went down, so it feels like it can't be a leg, and I doubt it's a groin. Kypreos speculated ribs a few days ago. Whatever it is, he's clearly in pain, but only slowed down a little bit. He was still TB's fastest player, to my eye, before he went down.

 

[DFC]

Well, there was the whining when the puck was scooped behind the net. Kuch has a way of acting that fans of other teams find infantile. We get it, you guys love him. He is an acquired taste, and makes me want to barf.

Trust me, if you had a guy who could put up 100 points in his sleep, you'd love him too.

 

[FourRings]

Hip would not be good news. But it's realistic.

The thing is, his skating didn't look THAT far off before he went down, so it feels like it can't be a leg, and I doubt it's a groin. Kypreos speculated ribs a few days ago. Whatever it is, he's clearly in pain, but only slowed down a little bit. He was still TB's fastest player, to my eye, before he went down.

If he does play, you know the Islanders are going to test him.

 

[DFC]

If he does play, you know the Islanders are going to test him.

No doubt. I think he'll play so long as he can walk. Cooper doesn't want this going 7, and we're clearly a much less dangerous team when he's out of our line-up. Point at 70% is still our best center, apparently.

 

[miscs75]

Hip would not be good news. But it's realistic.

The thing is, his skating didn't look THAT far off before he went down, so it feels like it can't be a leg, and I doubt it's a groin. Kypreos speculated ribs a few days ago. Whatever it is, he's clearly in pain, but only slowed down a little bit. He was still TB's fastest player, to my eye, before he went down.

The only reason why I suspected rib or groin because of how Pelech pinned him in game 3 and he collapsed like he couldn’t put pressure on his leg. Kucherov as well is pretty banged up and didn’t seem too much like himself after his injury scare last night. It’ll be an interesting 1/2 games to see what lineups show up tomorrow (and Saturday if necessary).

 

[ryerockarola]

No I said he will be back.

I think he'll be back but at what % and how long he can play is questionable. He got hit last game he played and missed, what the last nine minutes of the game or more.

If it is a hip pointer or hip flexor and he keeps playing on it - and possibly re-aggravating it instead of allowing more time for recovery - he might keep putting himself in jeopardy of playing in the Finals if Tampa advances.

Tampa wants to advance to the Finals and have Point playing in them. How much Tampa feels the need to use him while injured to get to the Finals is the catch-22.

 

[MikeyMike01]

At first it looked like he covered it with his hands. It's an understandable reaction.

Talking to the referee is understandable. Putting on a theatrical performance is not.