GDT: 3/24/18 - 7:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ New Jersey

[Tim Possible]

Is it time to start to panic yet.

Richard Panik is no longer on our team

 

[Brie]

I wonder what they'll say about this game, I'm going to guess something along the lines of "they came out to play....", "they worked harder than us..." and/or "we need to get better", same thing we seem to be hearing often after games these days after losses...now we did play of for most part tonight but the Devils did want it more and I wish we could get our team to want it more as well, even if we're in the PO already.

 

[These Are The Days]

I hate nights like this

 

[Tim Possible]

I hate nights like this

Mama said there'd be days like this.

 

[LonLon Lei]

Richard Panik is no longer on our team

we'll meet Panik next game soooo

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Did one of your guys just get suspended next game?

“(C) Any player of team official who is assessed a Game Misconduct penalty in the last ten minutes of regular time, at any time in overtime, or after the conclusion of the game and prior to the player or team official entering his dressing room, shall automatically be suspended for a minimum of the next league/play-off game or seven days.”

At the end of the game the ref was waiving as if to kick a Tampa player out/give out a game misconduct

 

[The Gongshow]

I don't want to face NJ in the first round.

 

[The Macho King]

This is not the game to overreact to. We played well defensively for the most part. Our offense dried up - but that is literally the last thing I'm worried about heading into the playoffs.

 

[Bolt 45]

At no point did that game look out of reach. The Devils were just way more desperate, and they were rewarded with a lot of bounces. Hats off to them. They deserved this one.

I'm glad we lost. Any coach that honestly believes that Coburn-Sustr is an NHL-caliber pairing doesn't deserve his name on the Cup.

 

[Bolt 45]

Did one of your guys just get suspended next game?

“(C) Any player of team official who is assessed a Game Misconduct penalty in the last ten minutes of regular time, at any time in overtime, or after the conclusion of the game and prior to the player or team official entering his dressing room, shall automatically be suspended for a minimum of the next league/play-off game or seven days.”

At the end of the game the ref was waiving as if to kick a Tampa player out/give out a game misconduct

Who knows, who cares. We play Arizona next.

Edit: For some context, the refs have been screwing us all year. There's literally nothing they can do that's going to surprise us anymore. I bet it was Kucherov. It's no secret that the league would rather have McDavid win the Art Ross

 

[CupsOverCash]

I don't want to face NJ in the first round.

I agree. Not because I don’t think we could beat them but because they are boring.

 

[Matt Watson]

Who was the guy I was going back and forth with the other night about Kucherov or Matthews? You still want Kuch over Matthews? Matthews would never, ever, take a night off the way Kuch did tonight. Not that it's a choice we have, but come playoff time, give me a big body, rock solid two-way player who can score over a pure scorer every day of the week. Reminds of the Bossy or Trottier argument that used to take place in the 80s. Without hesitation everyone said Trottier.

Anyway, like I said, it's not a choice we have but man, that was just an embarrassing effort, or lack of it, by Kuch and I hope somebody gets in his face about it.

 

[The Gongshow]

I agree. Not because I don’t think we could beat them but because they are boring.

We also went 0-3 against them this year...

 

[CupsOverCash]

We also went 0-3 against them this year...

Yea but that doesn’t mean anything in the playoffs. We were 0-4 against the Habs that year we nearly swept them. I think we swept them in the reg season that year we got swept by them in the playoffs. I think we could beat them in the playoffs. I just wouldn’t enjoy that series very much.

 

[Bolt 45]

Who was the guy I was going back and forth with the other night about Kucherov or Matthews? You still want Kuch over Matthews? Matthews would never, ever, take a night off the way Kuch did tonight. Not that it's a choice we have, but come playoff time, give me a big body, rock solid two-way player who can score over a pure scorer every day of the week. Reminds of the Bossy or Trottier argument that used to take place in the 80s. Without hesitation everyone said Trottier.

Anyway, like I said, it's not a choice we have but man, that was just an embarrassing effort, or lack of it, by Kuch and I hope somebody gets in his face about it.

To be fair, your trolling efforts haven't been all that great lately.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Who was the guy I was going back and forth with the other night about Kucherov or Matthews? You still want Kuch over Matthews? Matthews would never, ever, take a night off the way Kuch did tonight. Not that it's a choice we have, but come playoff time, give me a big body, rock solid two-way player who can score over a pure scorer every day of the week. Reminds of the Bossy or Trottier argument that used to take place in the 80s. Without hesitation everyone said Trottier.

Anyway, like I said, it's not a choice we have but man, that was just an embarrassing effort, or lack of it, by Kuch and I hope somebody gets in his face about it.

Kucherov is the guy who dragged us kicking and screaming into the playoff race last year and is arguably our MVP for our two deep playoff runs.

 

[LonLon Lei]

welp, TBH, let the other guy win it. I'm sure Kuch will compete for the next several years and..I'd rather want him to want the Cup way more like Vasy. He sure can focus more for the team, not for his individual prize esecially at a time like this where we need to get ready as a team.

 

[Matt Watson]

Kucherov is the guy who dragged us kicking and screaming into the playoff race last year and is arguably our MVP for our two deep playoff runs.

Yeah, he was great last year when the Ning had nothing to lose and he was shooting from everywhere and he got hot in the playoffs, but right now he's playing like he doesn't GAS. And I'd still take Matthews over Kucherov every day of the week.

 

[Bolt 45]

Yeah, he was great last year when the Ning had nothing to lose and he was shooting from everywhere and he got hot in the playoffs, but right now he's playing like he doesn't GAS. And I'd still take Matthews over Kucherov every day of the week.

What Leafs fan wouldn't? We'll keep our Kuch, thanks.

 

[Stammertime91]

Out of Boston, Toronto, Florida and New Jersey, I'd rather play Carolina lol. In short, I don't want us to play any of them. Florida games are a heart attack, New Jersey is a boring to death loss, and the other two I can see going badly.

I think at this point we will end up facing Toronto. Two games in hand for Boston, if they win both, puts them even with us and I really don't think they lose much anymore so let's say they go 1-1. They would be 2 points back with two more meetings with them. We know how that goes..so with that said, I can see them edging us out, after 80 or so games and taking first in the division. I hope not but I'm not liking the current situation.

After the last few years of being pretty close this is slowly turning my stomach. I'm trying to remain optimistic but this switch and saving energy thing is a bit over the top. We've taken roughly 3 months off - yet still are a top 2 team in the league, but we've played through some pretty ugly losses and wins. Obviously the playoffs are a different story and it could very well be that we've taken our foot off the gas. My main concern is we've fallen into a lot of bad habits for a few months now and we have two things that hamper our play. A bad penalty kill and the inability to close out games. You don't win a cup doing what we have done in third periods lately. They really need to get it together.

It's like a broken record going over their flaws because it's the same thing every night. Lack of effort, not playing a "full 60 minutes" (even though nobody does - we tend to play around 5 minutes a period and sleep walk/skate the other 15 minutes a period) are killing us.

 

[Matt Watson]

What Leafs fan wouldn't? We'll keep our Kuch, thanks.

I'm sure that you would also keep Vasy over Rinne too. Well, at least Vasy tries.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Yeah, he was great last year when the Ning had nothing to lose and he was shooting from everywhere and he got hot in the playoffs, but right now he's playing like he doesn't GAS. And I'd still take Matthews over Kucherov every day of the week.

These games don't mean shit. Kucherov played his ass off at the beginning of the year so the wouldn't.

 

[Steazy Doo]

Who was the guy I was going back and forth with the other night about Kucherov or Matthews? You still want Kuch over Matthews? Matthews would never, ever, take a night off the way Kuch did tonight. Not that it's a choice we have, but come playoff time, give me a big body, rock solid two-way player who can score over a pure scorer every day of the week. Reminds of the Bossy or Trottier argument that used to take place in the 80s. Without hesitation everyone said Trottier.

Anyway, like I said, it's not a choice we have but man, that was just an embarrassing effort, or lack of it, by Kuch and I hope somebody gets in his face about it.

I'm a Lightning fan, but, unlike you, one who actually knows a thing or two about hockey from on ice experience at a high level. Unless something changes dramatically, this team will be playing golf in May. I'm not wishing for it, but, as has been noted here many times, it's not a switch you turn on and off. So, enjoy the big win tonight against a generationally bad defense, it doesn't mean a damn thing. What does mean something is that our PK can't stop an ECHL PP now.

 

[Bolt 45]

Out of Boston, Toronto, Florida and New Jersey, I'd rather play Carolina lol. In short, I don't want us to play any of them. Florida games are a heart attack, New Jersey is a boring to death loss, and the other two I can see going badly.

I think at this point we will end up facing Toronto. Two games in hand for Boston, if they win both, puts them even with us and I really don't think they lose much anymore so let's say they go 1-1. They would be 2 points back with two more meetings with them. We know how that goes..so with that said, I can see them edging us out, after 80 or so games and taking first in the division. I hope not but I'm not liking the current situation.

After the last few years of being pretty close this is slowly turning my stomach. I'm trying to remain optimistic but this switch and saving energy thing is a bit over the top. We've taken roughly 3 months off - yet still are a top 2 team in the league, but we've played through some pretty ugly losses and wins. Obviously the playoffs are a different story and it could very well be that we've taken our foot off the gas. My main concern is we've fallen into a lot of bad habits for a few months now and we have two things that hamper our play. A bad penalty kill and the inability to close out games. You don't win a cup doing what we have done in third periods lately. They really need to get it together.

It's like a broken record going over their flaws because it's the same thing every night. Lack of effort, not playing a "full 60 minutes" (even though nobody does - we tend to play around 5 minutes a period and sleep walk/skate the other 15 minutes a period) are killing us.

I think we beat Boston at least once, which means we only have to keep pace with them, which we've been able to do all year.

And some of our issues are self-inflicted. Whether it's incompetence or terrible luck, we knew a month ago that the Coburn-Sustr pairing was good for a goal against every time they suited up. Nothing's changed, including our willingness to send them out there together. We're spotting teams a goal, and we just finished losing a one-goal game. I'm still holding out hope that Coop's doing it on purpose so that our forwards have no choice but to play defense.

I mean, ultimately, if this team doesn't want it bad enough, what can you do?

 

[Steazy Doo]

Why is this the game to start panicking? It was a hard fought game from both teams. If there was a game to panic about it was Boston. This is just a loss in a hard fought battle.

Devils blocked a ton of shots tonight.