I am perhaps the least knowledgeable X-and-O fan on this board, but as I think back on game 1 it seems to me that the CBJ were not effective at creating a sustained forecheck. It's no surprise given the gap in skill that TB had most shots and better advanced stats, but wouldn't more banging and grinding in TB's defensive zone serve our cause better and perhaps lead to a greasy goal? Is there a tactical way to improve the forecheck/zone time? What lineup changes, if any, do we see today (also perhaps due to effects of game 1)?
Agree with the need for better sustained forecheck, but that requires legs...and CBJ was a little lacking of those after coming off the Toronto series, and 5OTs gradually took the legs completely away. I suspect that the legs will be a little better for the early part of game 2, but better get on it early and hold on, because I imagine the legs will start to fade in 3rd period from all the hockey the past 7 days.
I doubt we will see much change in the lineup, unless someone is dinged a little. As tired as the legs are, I don't see Shore or Benstrom in the lineup, unless as a replacement for a similar player (i.e. Gerbe). Having mentioned him, Gerbe just isn't big enough to be effective at sustaining shift-after-shift of playoff hockey. Love his effort, but everyone (including TBL) is giving max effort at this point. Gerbe provides value during regular season - he's a shot of fresh air, fresh energy and fresh legs when other players (CBJ and/or opponent) may not be "on it" either from travel, B2B or just plain season-long grind. That energy level mostly evens up now - well except maybe for Kucherov's lazy a**. I thought Gerbe was ok, but not particularly effective. It is also hard to be a one-man forecheck, and he had tired linemates, so who knows, maybe Gerbe was more effective than I give him credit for. The advanced stats had him pretty much even in game 1, which was better than most CBJ.
IMO, legs (and thus forecheck) will better for Game 3 than today (assuming we don't see another 5OT game today!). And we get last change in Games 3 & 4, which will help with matchups a little better too. Not giving up on today, not in the least, but it will likely be more of a dump and NOT chase game in the latter part of todays' game than anything else. Not so much as preferred strategy but as necessity (at some point) to combat fatigue. So play to our strength (D/goal tending), and hope that the D can come up with enough of a push to generate one more goal than TBL in regulation (3-2?)
