GDT: 4/28/18 - 3:00PM EDT - #2AT Boston VS #1AT Tampa Bay [ECSF GAME 1]

[pursuit81]

Went radio silent all afternoon and Tivoed the game. Just watched. How about them Rays!

 

[RussianGuyovich]

Stralman was awesome. All game. Convince me otherwise.

 

[Lightning1995]

So ****ing what we lost a game. Do you realize that the Caps were a shot away from being down 3-0 to the Jackets and won it 4-2.

**** didn't go right. Big deal. Stop smashing the panic button and realize that we weren't gonna go 16-1

Boston is materially better than Columbus. Win Monday or get run.

 

[Stammertime91]

We made it pretty easy for Rask. We looked easy to contain as far as chances go. We controlled the game but couldn't finish or get too many grade A chances. When we were in good positions or had a look, it resulted in a pass or flubbed play. Rask played good but they played better defense as a team.

That top line getting off after the powerplay and leaving a 3 on 2 was pitiful. That pretty much said it all there. Careless on their half and not threatening on Boston's half.

It's one game but this is pretty much what I expected. It was the same thing for Toronto. Chance after chance, not capitalizing and suddenly you are out of reach in the blink of an eye. Pretty disappointing.

Point looks terrible and people can harp on me but call a spade a spade. He's invisible. Didn't notice Killorn either. Johnson got rooked into a pissing contest and just abandoned his coverage. I thought McDonagh had terrible moments as well.

They went 7 games and we had a weeks rest. I'm not a fan of using the whole rust excuse because if you remember 7 years ago, one game cost us against them. We didnt need to gift tbem a game where we got one called back and got fortunate in that skate dilemma that couldve nornally resulted in it being called back and we end up shorthanded 5v1.

Pretty disappointing result today. Bummed out. Not even gonna watch Crosby burst my hopes and come back from a 7-0 deficit and score 8 in the 3rd today.

 

[DekeR]

One team committed to both ends of the ice, one team not so much. To me that was the difference.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Went radio silent all afternoon and Tivoed the game. Just watched. How about them Rays!

I had to do this today, and I feel like I've had to do it for an awful lot of Lightning games this season*, but I had a prior committment around 5pm today so I clicked pause on an online stream so that I could pick up where I left off once I returned. The beauty of the streams I use is that I can FF the commercials, intermissions, and even between whistles if either I feel like it or if I'm in a bit of a time crunch. Also, because the game is usually already over when I do these things, I don't have to worry about sudden stream glitches, which are an instant rage-trigger for me more often than not. The obvious downside to this approach is that I can't react in real-time with other people, but generally speaking I find the pluses to outweight the minuses to this approach.

*not that I'm sure most of you care, but my general inability to make into games live is the biggest reason I don't usually do GDT's during the actual game. I insist on being able to watch the full 60 minutes by whatever means, so if I'm compromised enough that I can't get to the game in time, I'm going to either skip it for later or be in catch-up mode, either of which, obviously, isn't live.

 

[Bolt 45]

Boston is materially better than Columbus. Win Monday or get run.

And yet Boston still came within 20-30 minutes of choking away a 3-1 series lead to a much less polished, much less experienced team. I get what you're saying, but we could lose on Monday and then win in 6. That's just the way this team is.

 

[LonLon Lei]

Guys please...I've not seen the match...
Tell me it's a bad dream...please...
Really...what's happened tonight?

We were playing pretty well from the start but ever since then, we couldn't capitalize our chances(not just quantity, we had more than a few quality chances）but Boston did. I personally don't think Vasy was less than average but surely Rask, who threw his skate blade away with anger didn't forget to save.
Also, we couldn't or didn't do much to stop their 1st line. They seem to be more than just a Hall and we need to defend better.
This loss is bad especially when you did have so many chances but this happens all the time, anywhere in the hockey world I guess.

 

[Stammertime91]

Their guys simply took advantage of their better scoring chances than our guys. It’s that simple. If we can’t get more chances between the dots and continue to give them prime ones there, it’s going to be a short series.

Pretty much the shortened version of how I feel. Seemed like every odd man rush in the game was for them. Multiple at that. Not to mention we didn't break through on the rush as much as we forechecked. The run and fun and widening of the game suits us against them and instead we forechecked really well but to them, they contained it pretty well.

tl;dr - as far as I'm concerned, we're f/cked. Christ. Bruins top line running roughshod, Vasi looking like he did in the 2nd half of the season...the Bruins were the team that should've been dead tired coming into this game and we just completely blew our chance while revealing some our worst flaws in the process. This was as bad a Game 1 as the Lightning could've possibly had.

Bit extreme, even for me but I definitely don't feel confident after this.

Vasy has a short time to compose himself, not months. Need a new game plan because Brayden Point is not going to shutdown Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron rather, made him look invisible.

We need four lines of Yanni Gourde because he's pretty much the only guy who never gives up on a play, throws the body and still manages to create more than 3-4 other guys do in an entire game.

 

[Blanche Blanche]

We controlled the majority of the play. But we lost the goaltending duel bigtime.

Leafs fan here coming in peace & i feel ya man.

The bruins have gotten a golden horseshoe up their arses... there were some periods we leafs just hounded Rask, the shots were were 2-1 and going, then, Bergeron and Pasta somehow take 1 shot and the goalie doesnt see it.

Its like that line with Marchand just makes Goalies wet themselves and overthink.

Good luck guys! Hope Vasy does better, and your coach adjusts to that killer top line.

 

[Blanche Blanche]

And yet Boston still came within 20-30 minutes of choking away a 3-1 series lead to a much less polished, much less experienced team. I get what you're saying, but we could lose on Monday and then win in 6. That's just the way this team is.

Leafs Fan coming in peace.

IMO. The bruins got real lucky with you guys.
You guys had the D and a steady breakout system to prevent Vasi being hounded with shots like our goalie did.

Next game you guys will probably tighten up and put it past Rask alot more.

Hope you guys shutdown that line, it was the only games we won. When the Bergy line had +0. It seems like if they score 1, the Dams broken.

Good luck!

 

[Bolt 45]

Pretty much the shortened version of how I feel. Seemed like every odd man rush in the game was for them. Multiple at that. Not to mention we didn't break through on the rush as much as we forechecked. The run and fun and widening of the game suits us against them and instead we forechecked really well but to them, they contained it pretty well.

Bit extreme, even for me but I definitely don't feel confident after this.

Vasy has a short time to compose himself, not months. Need a new game plan because Brayden Point is not going to shutdown Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron rather, made him look invisible.

We need four lines of Yanni Gourde because he's pretty much the only guy who never gives up on a play, throws the body and still manages to create more than 3-4 other guys do in an entire game.

Even though he's not exactly a two-way player, Kuch might be the guy I'd task with shadowing Bergeron. Kuch's just as smart and more talented. Meaner, too. As for Point, he's been fine. I mean, Bergeron's a tall order for a young guy in his first playoffs.

And I honestly didn't see anything about the way Boston was playing that we can't solve. They're simply more professional in their approach. They come in with a game plan, and they're way more disciplined about sticking to it than we are. They hunker down in their own zone. We have the edge in talent, but we play like a bunch of over-talented slackers. Time to roll up our sleeves and get some grease on our hands.

 

[Lightning1995]

My lines going forward....

Point, Kuch, Guorde
Stammer, JT, Palat
Cirelli, Killer, TJ
Same 4th line I guess, wouldn’t mind Conacher. Maybe have Cirelli center this line, bench Paquette and play Conacher with TJ centering?

 

[Bolt 45]

Leafs Fan coming in peace.

IMO. The bruins got real lucky with you guys.
You guys had the D and a steady breakout system to prevent Vasi being hounded with shots like our goalie did.

Next game you guys will probably tighten up and put it past Rask alot more.

Hope you guys shutdown that line, it was the only games we won. When the Bergy line had +0. It seems like if they score 1, the Dams broken.

Good luck!

We'll see. Boston got some full moon bounces tonight, that's for sure. Boston's top line actually doesn't scare me. We have the all the pieces to that puzzle, we just have to put them together in the right way. And Rask'll snap sooner or later.

 

[Lightning1995]

We'll see. Boston got some full moon bounces tonight, that's for sure. Boston's top line actually doesn't scare me. We have the all the pieces to that puzzle, we just have to put them together in the right way. And Rask'll snap sooner or later.

Boston’s top line doesn’t scare you?

 

[Stammertime91]

Even though he's not exactly a two-way player, Kuch might be the guy I'd task with shadowing Bergeron. Kuch's just as smart and more talented. Meaner, too. As for Point, he's been fine. I mean, Bergeron's a tall order for a young guy in his first playoffs.

And I honestly didn't see anything about the way Boston was playing that we can't solve. They're simply more professional in their approach. They come in with a game plan, and they're way more disciplined about sticking to it than we are. They hunker down in their own zone. We have the edge in talent, but we play like a bunch of over-talented slackers. Time to roll up our sleeves and get some grease on our hands.

I agree it's a tough matchup but he just didn't stand out other than his late game burst of speed spin move. Other than that his speed and presence was negated. Easily. Bar his opening couple shifts, it was like we were shorthanded every time the Bergeron line went on. It's not just him so I don't want it to seem like I'm just nitpicking on him. His line was pretty mediocre after the first.

I just can't believe how many times they broke free on the far side leading to odd man rushes. Seems like if I could play the game back it was them outnumbering us on the break. And where were our guys? I have honestly no clue.

They need to come out blazing in game 2 or it is not gonna last very long. Worst case, we split...on home ice...after having a weeks rest.

Hypothetical and hopefully we don't have to go that route, but if we lose this series, the whole flipping the switch, saving energy and having an easy first round does not sit well with me regarding Cooper's future. Not saying fire him after this loss or grabbing pitchforks, but moreso, they need to have an answer for what we saw today because given the "breaks" we got on goals, penalties, we should have taken this game. Our third period implosions are slowly killing me. Vasy was getting sniped but he had a lot more to deal with than Rask in terms of quality.

We scored two goals on Rask, one where he had one blade.

 

[Stammertime91]

My lines going forward....

Point, Kuch, Guorde
Stammer, JT, Palat
Cirelli, Killer, TJ
Same 4th line I guess, wouldn’t mind Conacher. Maybe have Cirelli center this line, bench Paquette and play Conacher with TJ centering?

Swap Gourde and Miller. Wouldn't mind seeing Conacher but I'm not too overly concerned about the 4th. Paquette would suit this pissing contest better than Conacher imo. Callahan and Kunitz won't sit.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Pretty much the shortened version of how I feel. Seemed like every odd man rush in the game was for them. Multiple at that. Not to mention we didn't break through on the rush as much as we forechecked. The run and fun and widening of the game suits us against them and instead we forechecked really well but to them, they contained it pretty well.

Bit extreme, even for me but I definitely don't feel confident after this.

Vasy has a short time to compose himself, not months. Need a new game plan because Brayden Point is not going to shutdown Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron rather, made him look invisible.

We need four lines of Yanni Gourde because he's pretty much the only guy who never gives up on a play, throws the body and still manages to create more than 3-4 other guys do in an entire game.

Possibly, sure, but do realize a post like that comes in response to months-long concerns I've had about facing Boston. I know I'm not the only one who's had their concerns with the Bruins, but I haven't been shy in saying that this matchup frightens me, that the Bruins time and again have proven to be a huge issue for the Lightning to solve, and that I want no part of them in the playoffs.

A performance like today was literally the last thing I would've wanted to see because, literally, it redeemed every single concern I had with facing the Bruins. Everything I feared reared its ugly head today. I can't possibly pretend to feel good about the Lightning's chances when that happens. If we're talking a 50/50 game that goes to overtime and Boston pulls it out there? A setback, perhaps even a big one given home ice, but the performance aspects might've still been good enough for me to say "get 'em next time". That wasn't the case today. And that's devastating as far as I'm concerned. We need Vasi to be in his prime form to have any chance in this series and we saw Vasi at his worst today. And that's bad because we saw a ot of Vasi at is worst during the 2nd half of this season.

 

[Bolt 45]

Boston’s top line doesn’t scare you?

No. We have the players we need to contain them, or at least offset their impact. This series was always going to come down to how badly we want it. Boston's determination as a team is what concerns me. That and Nash, because if he's going to show up, then it puts added pressure on our secondary guys to do the same.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Honestly thought we carried the play more and had far more scoring chances. They converted on theirs and we didn't, their goalie was better and there are no excuses of puck luck.
Hoping the guys are better in front of the goal in game 2, and Vasi is better

 

[Stammertime91]

Possibly, sure, but do realize a post like that comes in response to months-long concerns I've had about facing Boston. I know I'm not the only one who's had their concerns with the Bruins, but I haven't been shy in saying that this matchup frightens me, that the Bruins time and again have proven to be a huge issue for the Lightning to solve, and that I want no part of them in the playoffs.

A performance like today was literally the last thing I would've wanted to see because, literally, it redeemed every single concern I had with facing the Bruins. Everything I feared reared its ugly head today. I can't possibly pretend to feel good about the Lightning's chances when that happens. If we're talking a 50/50 game that goes to overtime and Boston pulls it out there? A setback, perhaps even a big one given home ice, but the performance aspects might've still been good enough for me to say "get 'em next time". That wasn't the case today. And that's devastating as far as I'm concerned. We need Vasi to be in his prime form to have any chance in this series and we saw Vasi at his worst today. And that's bad because we saw a ot of Vasi at is worst during the 2nd half of this season.

I agree and while it's tough to be hopeful even after one loss, it's still just one game. There's no reason that IF we win game 2, we can't split it back there as well and it comes down to a best of 3 with home ice advantage. I mean, that's basically what I'm looking for now. I understand though, this was pretty much the one matchup I didn't want us to get and we got it. It's basically playing a more structured and focused version of us. The more you don't capitalize against this Boston team, the more life you give them. It can be 0-0 and in the blink of an eye they're shutting you down and winning 3-0. Essentially what happened today. We kept playing catch up and they just kept prevailing on their breaks. Even though we controlled the game, they are the kind of team you can look at after the series is over and say, we outplayed them, yet they smoked you and won it in 5 games. I don't think they care about pretty or care to replicate 2011 Boston. They simply don't die unless you cut the head off. I hate teams like this but the sad thing for us is teams like this, similar to Pittsburgh, eventually get it done.

This really reminds me of 2016 vs the Pens. Even the current Pens side...down by 2 in game 1 and they take like 5 shots and are winning 3-2 without Malkin on the road. Unless you get up by 3 or 4 and LOCK IT DOWN, it's not over.

 

[Stammertime91]

Also, 3GAA-ilevskiy was nowhere to be found.

Enter: Vasileaky

 

[Bolt 45]

I agree it's a tough matchup but he just didn't stand out other than his late game burst of speed spin move. Other than that his speed and presence was negated. Easily. Bar his opening couple shifts, it was like we were shorthanded every time the Bergeron line went on. It's not just him so I don't want it to seem like I'm just nitpicking on him. His line was pretty mediocre after the first.

I just can't believe how many times they broke free on the far side leading to odd man rushes. Seems like if I could play the game back it was them outnumbering us on the break. And where were our guys? I have honestly no clue.

They need to come out blazing in game 2 or it is not gonna last very long. Worst case, we split...on home ice...after having a weeks rest.

Hypothetical and hopefully we don't have to go that route, but if we lose this series, the whole flipping the switch, saving energy and having an easy first round does not sit well with me regarding Cooper's future. Not saying fire him after this loss or grabbing pitchforks, but moreso, they need to have an answer for what we saw today because given the "breaks" we got on goals, penalties, we should have taken this game. Our third period implosions are slowly killing me. Vasy was getting sniped but he had a lot more to deal with than Rask in terms of quality.

We scored two goals on Rask, one where he had one blade.

Boston got the first goal. We had to press to get it back, and they took advantage of us. That's the way they've played us all year long. We needed to be more patient than we were. I honestly felt like we came out a little cocky and got smacked in the mouth. Which is good. We're awful every time we buy into our own hype.

And I'd be very surprised if Boston's top line plays like this all series long. The good version of our team won't have any problems figuring out a way to keep them in check. None of our D played very well. Our goaltender didn't play very well. Our forwards weren't very focused defensively. The story of our season was retold in 60 minutes tonight. We have tons of talent, but we don't always like working as hard as is required. We'll see if it all comes together for us. We have the roster we need to beat Boston, though.

 

[Fabiobest]

We were playing pretty well from the start but ever since then, we couldn't capitalize our chances(not just quantity, we had more than a few quality chances）but Boston did. I personally don't think Vasy was less than average but surely Rask, who threw his skate blade away with anger didn't forget to save.
Also, we couldn't or didn't do much to stop their 1st line. They seem to be more than just a Hall and we need to defend better.
This loss is bad especially when you did have so many chances but this happens all the time, anywhere in the hockey world I guess.

Thank you very much for your answer!
So the main causes tonight are: 1) the waste of many good scoring chances, 2) Rask who played really well and 3) our bad defense against their top line.
I think that the first two can change Monday: we've great snipers who can creare and score many goals. And if they're wasted tonight, maybe Monday they will not. Also about Rask...If he played really really well, it does not mean that Monday he'll play really well too.
I hope so because tonight we've lost the home ice advantage...and we need to win game 2 and, at least, one in Boston.

 

[Maelmoor]

Thought Cooper summarized it quite well:

"We have to raise the battle level in the defensive zone," Cooper said. "For all the battle level we had in the offensive zone, if we turn that into the defensive zone for some of those plays, maybe they don't go in. I think that was frustrating for the guys, spending the amount of time they did in the offensive zone, not being rewarded, and the Bruins were rewarded for just coming down and making a play. But that's what that line does, they make plays. Right when you think you might have them, they can burn you. That's what they did to us."