GDT: [#55] Dallas Stars @ St Louis Blooze, 7:00 PM CST (FSSW+)

[Smelling Salt]

Got a bad feeling about this game tbh.

Maybe Segs saw my poll and will go crazy, but doubtful.

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[Blindsummit]

Got a bad feeling about this game tbh.

Maybe Segs saw my poll and will go crazy, but doubtful.

I hate to say it but I have the same bad feeling.
The missus and I are still pissed off about last night. A lot of things to be worried about.

 

[BigG44]

Why haven't they tried Seguin with the kids yet if they're going to play him at RW? No guy is hotter offensively than Gurianov right now. Benn and Perry have played together this season, and Dickinson could center them. Hell it's worth a try on a tough back to back against the best team in the West.

Gurianov-Hintz-Seguin
Janmark-Pavelski-Kiviranta
Benn-Dickinson-Perry

I know Benn's not been on fire or anything, but you'd have at least one guy on each line that's been better offensively recently.

 

[The Tourist]

Win or lose, I hope Benn punks Petro all night.

 

[BrettHullsToe]

No guy is hotter offensively than Gurianov right now.

Maybe the reason he is hot is because he is not playing top line minutes against the hardest opposition. He might have the typical fragile confidence of a rookie where he needs to be sheltered in order to perform optimally.

Fans (especially analytics driven ones) rarely seem to want to hear it of course, but all minutes of a hockey game are not created equally. Bumping a guy from 14 to 18 minutes could actually make his scoring go down, as well as expose him defensively. We saw what a Gurianov lacking confidence looks like last season, as well as the early part of this season, and it's not a useful hockey player.

But maybe not, maybe Bowness is just wrong. Without watching the practices, looking at the team exclusive analytics, and being in the locker room, us fans just don't know, which is why all the complaining seems silly. But fans gotta do something with their time when the team doesn't go 82-0, I guess.

 

[BigG44]

What are you even talking about? I didn't even mention Gurianov's usage. They're trying to figure out how to get Seguin going, and the only thing I suggested was I wondered why they hadn't tried that combo yet.

You're reading in to something that wasn't even mentioned.

 

[BigG44]

Let me also just add, Gurianov's usage has increased the last 2 weeks. It would be a dumb argument to make anyway which is why it wasn't even remotely on my mind. Bones is loading as many of the tough minutes on the FCC line as possible anyway. Suggesting anyone play with Seguin doesn't remotely mean they're going to be playing 20 minutes a night against top lines.

 

[Kcb12345]

Bowness has said he won't split Benn and Seguin up. Will be interesting if he sticks with that for the rest of the season but so far I think he has pretty much

 

[BigG44]

That's interesting. Hadn't seen that. Was it from today or this week?

It also explains why they hadn't done it yet. Earlier this season, obviously under Montgomery, they spent quite a bit of time apart. Maybe Bones is hoping that consistency between the two will spark something from the past.

IIRC ... so far those two have played with Radulov, Pavelski, Dowling Kiviranta, Janmark, and Hintz right? I vaguely remember Dickinson possibly playing with them, but I'm not positive.

You wonder if that eventually means Perry gets a shot. I don't think he's played with Seguin yet, but he has played with Benn this season.

I sort of remembering Bones saying around the time they called up Kiviranta that the reason he came up for Perry was they didn't have the guys who were comfortable on the right side outside of Radulov, Pavelski, Comeau, and Perry. I know Janmark has played a bit of time at RW. I don't think Gurianov has this year though. I think Dickinson played a handful of games at RW last year maybe.

 

[BigG44]

I found where Bowness mentioned what you were talking about. That was all the way back in mid-December.

I definitely didn't remember this quote:

“As long as those two guys are going, the third guy is going to have to be able to read off of them and be able to keep up with them in terms of speed and in terms of hockey sense,” Bowness said. “The third guy with them is going to change all the time. It’s no different when we were in Vancouver and we had the [Sedin] twins. That right wingers changed all the time. The duos pretty much stay the same.”

I'm surprised how consistent he's been with Radulov up there based on the quote. He definitely stuck with that group the majority of the time.

 

[catters078]

My concern is growing that we arent as sharp defensively for the last month now.

Johns is an important player, but we need some defensive pair chemistry to kick back in.

This is how id like to see it paired for a set of 6 to 8 games now (but know it wont happen)

Klingberg-Lindell
Heiskanen-Oleksiak
Sekera-Johns

Polak scratched for a segment down the stretch.

 

[Kalamazoo Wings]

Stars take it 4-1. Seguin Miro and Dobby shine.

 

[BrettHullsToe]

If you put Gurianov with Seguin, they'll draw top 6 / top 4 opposition and that could be much worse for Gurianov than it will be positive for Seguin. We might end up with neither of them scoring rather than Gurianov feasting on lesser competition that can't handle his speed.

The usage comments are more directed at the masses of fan comments I see all over the internet who think that if only Gurianov got 25 minutes a game, he'd be on pace for 40+ goals, cause that's just math (or something). Just like the Stars probably would've won a Cup if only Honka got played more.

 

[Hinterland]

Interesting

 

[M88K]

Whelp, we can probably chalk this up as a loss

 

[Hinterland]

If you put Gurianov with Seguin, they'll draw top 6 / top 4 opposition and that could be much worse for Gurianov than it will be positive for Seguin. We might end up with neither of them scoring rather than Gurianov feasting on lesser competition that can't handle his speed.

That's when a good coach with the ability to dictate matchups would come in rather handy.

 

[BigG44]

Lines are really different tonight.

I hadn't thought about some of those combos, but it will be interesting to see how they work considering there was a need for a bit of a shake up.

 

[BigG44]

Got to say I'm a little surprised Hintz on wing. When they moved Seguin back to center, I just assumed Pavelski would go back to wing.

 

[BigG44]

Sorry ... forgot how to embed a tweet for a second ... here they are.

 

[The Tourist]

I wonder if Stevens made the call on those lines or if Bowness was going to use those lines anyway. I like the change up because the team needs it. I might swap Gurianov and Perry but I'm good with that top 6 starting out. I think Perry played with Benn and Dickinson when he first got in the line up and they looked pretty good together.

 

[BigG44]

I think the reasonable answer is that Bones was heavily in that discussion. He may not be well enough to be behind the bench, but I doubt he was just in bed and out of touch all day.

I wasn't 100% sure but I thought it was Dickinson who was between them, and yes I wouldn't mind seeing that again. The main reason being if that line can be secondary scoring, it opens up the door for creating another scoring line ... hopefully with the aide of a TDL addition.

 

[Troy McClure]

Interesting

Did these players drive another coach to drink?

 

[Kcb12345]

 

[BrettHullsToe]

Run into a guy not looking at you and fall down to draw a penalty, guess we got some new refs tonight.

 

[Satan]

I don't want to watch this