GDT: Game 1: Islanders @ Hurricanes, 7pm

[3CanesInTheBox]

I don't even follow the NBA and I can say I'm glad I'm not a Knicks fan.

Laughing on the outside, eternally dying on the inside at all the accurate Knicks jokes.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Natural stat trick says we out high danger chanced them by 1 in 5v5 play.
Islanders did out chance on the PP but that likely has to do with the amount of time they were on the PP vs us.

We only had a .74 xGF on the PP and a 3 xGF at 5v5. So we got a little lucky on the PP and Sorokin did well to stop us at ES.

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

ACCEPTABLE OUTCOME.

ENFORCE INEQUALITY.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

One thing that was nice to see (and justifies the move even more) we had our big name offensive defenseman take over this game. After watching Hamilton and TonyD wilt under the pressure in the playoffs, it was nice to see Burns thrive in it (at least for this game).

 

[A Star is Burns]

Main board not taking my thread because it's low effort but we win?

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Main board not taking my thread because it's low effort but we win?

View attachment 690567

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

For those of us out of market that were stuck with the ESPN broadcast, ESPN+ has the Bally feed in its replay archive.

 

[Muuri]

Sebastian Aho > Sebastian Aho.

And it's not even close.

 

[hockeynjune]

One thing that was nice to see (and justifies the move even more) we had our big name offensive defenseman take over this game. After watching Hamilton and TonyD wilt under the pressure in the playoffs, it was nice to see Burns thrive in it (at least for this game).

Burns is a BEAST. Watching him take charge last night was amazing. You could almost hear him shout “Oh hell no!”

Main board not taking my thread because it's low effort but we win?

View attachment 690567

They hate how awesome HF26 is , and we don’t even try.

 

[AD Skinner]

It’s not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don’t even exercise

 

[To Be Determined]

It’s not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don’t even exercise

@AD Skinner are there rocks ahead?

 

[Discipline Daddy]

Only watched the second and third periods of this one, and I was cooking dinner for the 2nd so I missed parts of it. I thought we looked like the better team. Sorokin was truly excellent. Even some of his "easier" stops looked really good. He had one toe save in the third that hit the outermost edge of his skate - he just barely got something on that puck otherwise that was going in.

The Isles looked feistier than usual; probably they have the energy of being in the playoffs and everyone is playing their hearts out. Raanta's one goal against was kind of silly - I couldn't tell if it was one he should have had or just a good shot by Pulock. He was solid for the rest of it though. We don't need sensational goaltending like the Isles do, we just need solid goaltending, and Raanta was that.

Brent Burns I thought was our best player from what I saw. He was probably the best player on both teams if you don't count Sorokin. Our whole defense was awesome. Chatfield has such elite skating. He has quickly gone from "he's a decent skater" to "he has NHL skating" to "his skating is among the top 25% of NHL defenseman" this year. Kudos to the defensive structure for being absolutely stifling. That's the playbook for success.

If we have any hope of winning this thing sans Svech and Pacioretty we are going to have to win 15 more butt clenchers. I don't see us having any wide open games. Particularly against the more skilled teams. They would beat us every time. We have to make other teams play our game, even on the road.

 

[Svechhammer]

My biggest takeaway walking to the car last night was that I still don't know where the goals are going to come from 5v5....

But then I slept on it and remembered that if it weren't for Sorokin standing on his head, we win that game 4-1. He made some unreal saves on what should have been goals. On one hand, its awesome that it felt like we never fully lost control of the game, but at the same time we played last night more on the knife's edge than you'd really want to against the 7th team in the conference. Once our PP started to sputter, we were holding on for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow is a big game, need to win it to keep home ice.

 

[MustardStew]

Sebastian Aho > Sebastian Aho.

And it's not even close.

You should only ever compete against yourself

 

[CanesUltimate11]

View attachment 690458
Next.

Canes have won the last seven I've attended. Wish I could get down more often.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

My biggest takeaway walking to the car last night was that I still don't know where the goals are going to come from 5v5....

But then I slept on it and remembered that if it weren't for Sorokin standing on his head, we win that game 4-1. He made some unreal saves on what should have been goals. On one hand, its awesome that it felt like we never fully lost control of the game, but at the same time we played last night more on the knife's edge than you'd really want to against the 7th team in the conference. Once our PP started to sputter, we were holding on for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow is a big game, need to win it to keep home ice.

That one “save” on the Noesen bouncer was more the defender with great stick work and generally a different bounce by a non globe object and it was a goal (Noesen swiped at it but it took a higher bounce that Noesen anticipated.

Jarvis with better placement on the pass from turbo and it was a goal. I feel like Sorokin was able to make that save because jarvis hit the puck across the net instead of near corner. We are probably talking a 1 degree or so difference in the turn of the stick. Small margins but he just missed that one.

Overall Sorokin was the Vezina candidate that he is. At the same time just a couple of small margin plays didn’t go our way to make it 4-1 as you mentioned.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

I actually thought we flashed more skill through the lineup 5v5 than we did in any other game since Svech went down. And Necas (arguably our most skilled player with Aho) was very quiet. Sorokin played great and the Isles are an incredible defensive team. Yes only 2 goals and both on the powerplay but I thought it was still encouraging overall.

And echoing an above post, Chatfield is really growing on me and I was already high on him earlier in the season. He's making much smarter plays in his own end and combining that with his incredible speed and more skill than I expected after he went like 40 games with 1 point is huge for this D group. We'll see what happens with Morrow and Pesce in a year or 2 but I could even see Chatfield being the ultimate Burns replacement next to Slavin on the top pair if he keeps improving at the rate he has the last year. I'd give him a 6 year deal this offseason before he blows up more.

 

[Svechhammer]

I actually thought we flashed more skill through the lineup 5v5 than we did in any other game since Svech went down. And Necas (arguably our most skilled player with Aho) was very quiet. Sorokin played great and the Isles are an incredible defensive team. Yes only 2 goals and both on the powerplay but I thought it was still encouraging overall.

And echoing an above post, Chatfield is really growing on me and I was already high on him earlier in the season. He's making much smarter plays in his own end and combining that with his incredible speed and more skill than I expected after he went like 40 games with 1 point is huge for this D group. We'll see what happens with Morrow and Pesce in a year or 2 but I could even see Chatfield being the ultimate Burns replacement next to Slavin on the top pair if he keeps improving at the rate he has the last year. I'd give him a 6 year deal this offseason before he blows up more.

Chatfield has always struck me as a player who would be a very good player in the NHL, and just needed time to work through some growing pains. I'm not necessarily sure he's 1st line defense caliber, but I could absolutely see him as 2nd line stalwart, eventually replacing whichever of Skjei or Pesce that we don't retain.

I'm very intrigued on what we are going to do with Morrow and Nikishin. I am starting to get the impression that we are clearing a path for him to come over and play 3rd line NHL mins right away, which could help bring him over sooner, as he wouldn't have to worry about playing in the AHL and the lower salary that comes with that.

 

[hockeynjune]

That one “save” on the Noesen bouncer was more the defender with great stick work and generally a different bounce by a non globe object and it was a goal (Noesen swiped at it but it took a higher bounce that Noesen anticipated.

Jarvis with better placement on the pass from turbo and it was a goal. I feel like Sorokin was able to make that save because jarvis hit the puck across the net instead of near corner. We are probably talking a 1 degree or so difference in the turn of the stick. Small margins but he just missed that one.

Overall Sorokin was the Vezina candidate that he is. At the same time just a couple of small margin plays didn’t go our way to make it 4-1 as you mentioned.

Sorokin was the reason it wasn’t a 4/1 game for sure. We sooooo close last night at least 10 different times. He was fun to watch.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Chatfield has always struck me as a player who would be a very good player in the NHL, and just needed time to work through some growing pains. I'm not necessarily sure he's 1st line defense caliber, but I could absolutely see him as 2nd line stalwart, eventually replacing whichever of Skjei or Pesce that we don't retain.

I'm very intrigued on what we are going to do with Morrow and Nikishin. I am starting to get the impression that we are clearing a path for him to come over and play 3rd line NHL mins right away, which could help bring him over sooner, as he wouldn't have to worry about playing in the AHL and the lower salary that comes with that.

Oh don't get me wrong I'm not saying he'll get to being a legit top pair D, just that he'd be able to slot in next to Slavin and we could still have no issues forming the best D core in the league. He's a better all around D man at this point than TDA and we were still an incredible D group with TDA on the top pair next to Slavin last year.

Yeah where we go from here on D is going to be interesting. Burns has 2 more years and I'm pretty confident he'll still be a stud those 2 years but could he potentially play even longer and still be as effective? I wouldn't rule it out, but if not we need a plan B for RHD long term -- could be Chatfield, Morrow or even just keeping Pesce. We're almost certainly going to have to choose between Pesce and Skjei next year though and Skjei has played better and projects to be better on his next contract but could also potentially demand more $ due to his offense. Also Nikishin I don't ever see playing in the A and I think he could slot into the top 4 so if we keep Skjei that's a bit of a barrier for him. Plus he's 2 years out, not coming over sooner. Morrow is interesting as he had a down year and isn't signing right now so I don't think we can count on him as much as before. Ghost is likely gone and then we'd need a PP QB to replace Burns too, with Morrow and Nikishin really being the only potential internal options there but no guarantee they can succeed at it like Dougie/TDA/Burns. Lots of decisions to be made.

 

[AD Skinner]

I think chatfield’s ceiling is decent number 4, and I love chatfield. I would love to be wrong but I think penciling him on the the 2nd pair would be a mistake. He’s a fantastic number 6 and would be a very good 5 but I think any higher he’d be chad larose’d

 

[moses malone 12]

Yeah pretty much this. He went from “look at this undersized skill player willing to grind” to “look at this undersized grinder” pretty quick. He’s gotta find the balance so we can see the skill come back again.

I think the team needs to let him play as a perimeter winger or trade him. they have Necas and turbo already in those roles so Jarvis in that role might be redundant. I love that the kid is willing and goes to the dirty areas but he's not a power winger. He's worth keeping IMO if you slot him with the right linemates - one of whom should be a legit power winger. Can't recall how he did with Aho and Svech though.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

I think chatfield’s ceiling is decent number 4, and I love chatfield. I would love to be wrong but I think penciling him on the the 2nd pair would be a mistake. He’s a fantastic number 6 and would be a very good 5 but I think any higher he’d be chad larose’d

Then he's already at his ceiling because he has performed as a decent number 4 the last several months despite being slotted on the bottom pair. Also filled in on the top line a few games without missing a beat.

 

[Svechhammer]

I think the team needs to let him play as a perimeter winger or trade him. they have Necas and turbo already in those roles so Jarvis in that role might be redundant. I love that the kid is willing and goes to the dirty areas but he's not a power winger. He's worth keeping IMO if you slot him with the right linemates - one of whom should be a legit power winger. Can't recall how he did with Aho and Svech though.

Jarvis wants to be a big hitter, but damn that kid just bounces. He needs at least 1 or 2 more full on weight training offseasons just to bulk up enough to be the kind of player he wants to be.

But

Once he's there, he's going to be a pitbull out on the ice. I wouldn't be shocked to see him bounce back in a big way next season much like Necas did.

 

[cptjeff]

Jarvis wants to be a big hitter, but damn that kid just bounces. He needs at least 1 or 2 more full on weight training offseasons just to bulk up enough to be the kind of player he wants to be.

But

Once he's there, he's going to be a pitbull out on the ice. I wouldn't be shocked to see him bounce back in a big way next season much like Necas did.

If he just needs more mass, Bojangles training sessions could work just as well.