GDT: ECQF Game 1 - CAR vs BOS - Welcome to the Playoffs! Everything is fine.

[Blueline Bomber]

Just a reminder that Jarvis was drafted using the 1st pick we acquired for buying out Marleau.

It's been said before, but bears repeating every once in awhile.

 

[MinJaBen]

Smith and Cole both saved goals that had trickled past Raanta, most notably the last one where Cole dove and saved it with his glove. Both guaranteed goals if not for them.

How many tricklers did we have last night? I'm obviously happy for the win, but Raanta seemed awfully leaky. I think we got lucky it wasn't a 3-0 game at the end of the first. Play 6 more games like that and I think the chances of us stopping all of the leaks goes way down. Raanta needs to play a little better.

 

[SkeeterPumpkinEater]

Hey, if anyone should know cringe, it's the person who calls themselves "SkeeterPumpkinEater".

HEHEHE surprised you didn't totally roast me with TV GIFS!

 

[Tryamw]

Just a reminder that Jarvis was drafted using the 1st pick we acquired for buying out Marleau.

It's been said before, but bears repeating every once in awhile.

That's why Marleau will be a Carolina Hurricanes legend

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Just a reminder that Jarvis was drafted using the 1st pick we acquired for buying out Marleau.

It's been said before, but bears repeating every once in awhile.

Every time he scores, I send my Leafs fan buddy a message letting him know how much I appreciate that trade.



@X66 thanks again, bud.

 

[The Faulker 27]

How many tricklers did we have last night? I'm obviously happy for the win, but Raanta seemed awfully leaky. I think we got lucky it wasn't a 3-0 game at the end of the first. Play 6 more games like that and I think the chances of us stopping all of the leaks goes way down. Raanta needs to play a little better.

Just those 2 I think but there were definitely a few scrums where I was worried it would get poked in.

 

[Svechhammer]

How many tricklers did we have last night? I'm obviously happy for the win, but Raanta seemed awfully leaky. I think we got lucky it wasn't a 3-0 game at the end of the first. Play 6 more games like that and I think the chances of us stopping all of the leaks goes way down. Raanta needs to play a little better.

Raanta did play better after the 1st.

You're acting like Boston was getting shots past him all game. There was the first period, a quick bang-bang play in the 3rd that was legitimately a good setup by Haula that I'm not even sure he knew a Hall was there, and then Hall ringing a shot off the post. That's it. Outside of that, Raanta was locked in all night. And make no mistake, Boston took it to us in the 1st, peppering Raanta with I want to say 18 shots, during a time where I think we had 5 or 6 until we started to turn it on late. (which, to be fair, was our first game in 5 days and that game had us resting Slavin, Staal, and Svech... you had to expect a little rust early). We needed him to step up, which he did.

 

[djboos22]

Raanta was so good, so so good. Gave up a few rebounds he would probably want back, but made a ton of big saves.

All around team effort and I really liked how aggressive Domi was with the puck...even though he missed.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Smith is the better option in this series due to his physicality levels.

Bear will be a better option in a series against a better skating, less physical opponent.

The guys need to clean up the areas where we were dominated (1st 13 minutes and the first 6 minutes of the 3rd). It will be a stroke of luck to win 3 more like that one.

 

[MinJaBen]

Raanta did play better after the 1st.

You're acting like Boston was getting shots past him all game. There was the first period, a quick bang-bang play in the 3rd that was legitimately a good setup by Haula that I'm not even sure he knew a Hall was there, and then Hall ringing a shot off the post. That's it. Outside of that, Raanta was locked in all night. And make no mistake, Boston took it to us in the 1st, peppering Raanta with I want to say 18 shots, during a time where I think we had 5 or 6 until we started to turn it on late. (which, to be fair, was our first game in 5 days and that game had us resting Slavin, Staal, and Svech... you had to expect a little rust early). We needed him to step up, which he did.

I believe the one Cole stopped was also in the third. I don't fault him for the Hall goal as that a bang-bang play from behind the net.

 

[X66]

Every time he scores, I send my Leafs fan buddy a message letting him know how much I appreciate that trade.



@X66 thanks again, bud.

I wish he was lying, but he's not.

He also messages a mutual sens buddy every time Stepan scores.

THIS GUYS GOT PROBLEMS! (and we love him for it)

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

It will be interesting to see what adjustments Boston makes for game 2. I've thought in the past that Cassidy does well making adjustments. A couple of years ago, I thought for sure the Canes forecheck would bother the slower Boston defense. Cassidy neutralized that by having the forwards being more responsible for outlets and having his defense pass the puck very quickly, which was different than how they played for most of the season. He also had his team get under the Canes skin and rattle them. I expect we'll see a different game from Boston in game 2. I suspect they'll be more physical in front of their own net and get more traffic in front of Rant as well.

 

[Stickpucker]

It wasn't perfect but the defense recovered and neutralized its own mistakes outside of the 1st before we settled in.

As for Smith, the other option is Bear who is also prone to the exact same kind of mental screwups. Its part of the risk you take with either of them on the ice. At the end of the day, when those mistakes happened, we cleaned them up, and that's all you can really ask for. We're not going to be perfect in any game, so do what you can to mitigate disaster when things go sideways, and there are very few teams better at neutralizing their own screwups than the Canes.

I'll add that Smith is much more physical than Bear and it's not even close. He also saved Raanta's bacon in the 1st when the puck squibbled through. He's a physical 3rd pair dman....don't set your expectations too high.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The biggest surprise of the evening for me was that the Canes were the noticeably more physical of the two teams. It’s not that Boston wilted, but they have such an ingrained culture of heavy hockey that I expected them to dial it up for the playoffs. Instead they got pushed around not just by the usual suspects (mostly Nino), but even guys like Aho and Slavin. That’s total-team physicality which we really haven’t seen in this organization… maybe ever? And it showed as the game dragged on and tilted more and more in the Canes’ favor.

Maybe the Bruins bring something different tomorrow night, but I’m feeling pretty good about the physical matchups after one game. The biggest concern is just avoiding injury attrition, especially in a scenario where Boston feels like they need some big hit or fight to rally around.

 

[Chrispy]

Aho and Slavin? I watched Marty Necas throw his body around.

I didn't know he knew how to do that.

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

Even this guy was throwing his body around. And not in the manner the photo might suggest.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Even this guy was throwing his body around. And not in the manner the photo might suggest.

View attachment 539700

I still can't believe this dude posted this picture. lol

 

[Navin R Slavin]

The biggest surprise of the evening for me was that the Canes were the noticeably more physical of the two teams. It’s not that Boston wilted, but they have such an ingrained culture of heavy hockey that I expected them to dial it up for the playoffs. Instead they got pushed around not just by the usual suspects (mostly Nino), but even guys like Aho and Slavin. That’s total-team physicality which we really haven’t seen in this organization… maybe ever? And it showed as the game dragged on and tilted more and more in the Canes’ favor.

Maybe the Bruins bring something different tomorrow night, but I’m feeling pretty good about the physical matchups after one game. The biggest concern is just avoiding injury attrition, especially in a scenario where Boston feels like they need some big hit or fight to rally around.

Bruins fans claim that the Bruins have become much less physical over time. I would certainly agree that they're not as physical as the 2011 Bruins.

 

[Svechhammer]

The biggest surprise of the evening for me was that the Canes were the noticeably more physical of the two teams. It’s not that Boston wilted, but they have such an ingrained culture of heavy hockey that I expected them to dial it up for the playoffs. Instead they got pushed around not just by the usual suspects (mostly Nino), but even guys like Aho and Slavin. That’s total-team physicality which we really haven’t seen in this organization… maybe ever? And it showed as the game dragged on and tilted more and more in the Canes’ favor.

Maybe the Bruins bring something different tomorrow night, but I’m feeling pretty good about the physical matchups after one game. The biggest concern is just avoiding injury attrition, especially in a scenario where Boston feels like they need some big hit or fight to rally around.

We also took it to them physically in the regular season as well to the point where the Bruins basically went into the fetal position halfway through our last matchup. So to see a very similar storyline play out last night was a very good sign, indeed. If we really can impose our physical will on them over the course of the game, they're going to eventually start taking some cheap frustration penalties (which, you could argue they already started to last night) and the series could snowball on them.

 

[bleedgreen]

If we make it two or more rounds you’d think everyone is going to play at some point.

Speaking of Stepan.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

If we make it two or more rounds you’d think everyone is going to play at some point.

Speaking of Stepan.

Yeah no way Martinook can keep up throwing his body around like that without getting a few breathers, and we have that luxury with Step and Lorentz riding the pine. Credit to Rod because Marty was a large part of setting the tone last night as much as I wanted Step in over him.

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

Our depth is really going to be huge as we go deeper.

Still, I’m hoping we don’t beat ourselves up too much like we did against Nashville last year, leaving ourselves with nothing left for further opponents.

 

[MinJaBen]

Our depth is really going to be huge as we go deeper.

Still, I’m hoping we don’t beat ourselves up too much like we did against Nashville last year, leaving ourselves with nothing left for further opponents.

I don't think that is what killed us against Tampa last year. Slavin being hurt before the playoffs, our guys committing stupid penalties and thus giving Tampa's lethal powerplay too many chances, and some backbraking softie goals let in by Ned and Petr is what doomed us last year.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

I don't think that is what killed us against Tampa last year. Slavin being hurt before the playoffs, our guys committing stupid penalties and thus giving Tampa's lethal powerplay too many chances, and some backbraking softie goals let in by Ned and Petr is what doomed us last year.

Agreed.

Last year might have gone way different if we were healthy. If I recall correctly Aho was fighting an upper body injury as well?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Our depth is really going to be huge as we go deeper.

Still, I’m hoping we don’t beat ourselves up too much like we did against Nashville last year, leaving ourselves with nothing left for further opponents.

Like my old football coach used to say: if you don’t want to get hurt, stop protecting yourself and hit somebody.