Post-Game Talk: Game #14: Canucks 3, Capitals 2 - Powerplay Goals Are Overrated

[Brenton Williams]

Nice game for the Nucks, albeit against an incredibly soft team. That was the greatest divide in work ethic I've seen in a Canucks game this year.

The Canucks PP looked great, but absolutely no puck pressure by the Caps. Canucks were literally allowed to cruise across the blue line and set up every time.

Sedins looked especially dominant, but they'll always dominate against that level of defense.

Watch the last 10 seconds of the game. The Caps didn't even attempt a shot. With 4 seconds to go Backstrom had the puck along the halfboards and decided to pass the puck into the corner instead of attempt a play at the net. I think he skated away from the play before the buzzer even went.

Classic example of a team with lots of talent but nothing near the compete level needed to go deep in the playoffs.

Granted, last game of a road trip and it's early in the season, but jeez was that terrible.


I'm not sure what happened with Daniel stopping a for sure Nucks goal on the goaline... that was a weird play.

 

[Grumbler]

what a soft team the caps have become, let us walk all over them that game.

 

[tantalum]

fyi.....Luongo is 5-0-1 in his last 6. fun lil stat.

I counter your ridiculous use of stats with he;s not Schneider!

Seriously, it's a nice record and he has shut the door when necessary. Still some examples of the October Luongo this month though.

7 wins for him so far. At the current pace it will take Schneider 42 games to reach that! Schneider has actually looked like the October Luongo..2 excellent games, a couple middling ones and a couple of clunkers. And now he has to deal with a bit of an injury.

 

[Reign Nateo]

Truth. Luongo's actually playing somewhat under par. It's more that the rest of the team is playing very well. Hopefully Lu can get back up to a .920+ SV%, because if he can, we should be in good shape.

Yeah he's doing enough to win, but has been far from spectacular. His numbers are near the bottom of the league for starters so far and he's still good for a softie a game. When you outshoot a team 42-19, you should win. 3-2 is about as close as that game could have been. Having said that, he's been pretty clutch at times and made the saves when we needed them so I won't be too critical of him at this point.

I love how this team is out-working teams and winning based on grit. Good to see.

 

[Ernie]

Subjectively he's looked a little off form but it is great to start the season Luongo getting some good wins and looking better and better.

The problem with stats this time of year is lack of volume. Take out the Hamhuis own goal and Luongo goes from .908 to .911. At 0.03 per goal it's 3 more saved/lucky bounces to .920.

Very true.

I will note however that he hasn't exactly been winning the goaltending match-ups. Can't think of a lot of games where it's obvious he outperformed the opposing goalie.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Went to the game.

Overall the game wasn't terribly exciting; cept the start and good parts of the third.

Washington just blows. Shadow of their former self.

PP could finish it's dinner. No more whining about not enough chances.

Good win but still not an easy one.

 

[PhilMick]

I literally JUST got "beastmodo".

And I love it.

 

[IComeInPeace]

I only watched the 3rd period, but I thought Jeremy Welsh had a really strong period for a guy with very limited NHL experience.

 

[Proto]

Very true.

I will note however that he hasn't exactly been winning the goaltending match-ups. Can't think of a lot of games where it's obvious he outperformed the opposing goalie.

Yeah, but earlier in the year the team was giving up a lot more premium chances as they learned the system. Now it's leveled off and his 5v5 SV% has started creeping up. He's only a good 3-4 game stretch from being where he normally is. He looks pretty good to me out there.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

I only watched the 3rd period, but I thought Jeremy Welsh had a really strong period for a guy with very limited NHL experience.

I really like the kid.

Good player for the 4th line.

 

[J Canuck]

I only watched the 3rd period, but I thought Jeremy Welsh had a really strong period for a guy with very limited NHL experience.

I was kind of expecting him to score his first last night. I hope it comes before he goes back to Utica.

 

[ddawg1950]

Yeah he's doing enough to win, but has been far from spectacular. His numbers are near the bottom of the league for starters so far and he's still good for a softie a game. When you outshoot a team 42-19, you should win. 3-2 is about as close as that game could have been. Having said that, he's been pretty clutch at times and made the saves when we needed them so I won't be too critical of him at this point.

I love how this team is out-working teams and winning based on grit. Good to see.

The biggest problem I had with the team last year was that, even though we were winning, we were getting out worked by the opposition nearly every game. Winning on talent is fine but it seems you pay for it in the post season where work ethic becomes prime.

Like what I see, so far.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Yeah he's doing enough to win, but has been far from spectacular. His numbers are near the bottom of the league for starters so far and he's still good for a softie a game. When you outshoot a team 42-19, you should win. 3-2 is about as close as that game could have been. Having said that, he's been pretty clutch at times and made the saves when we needed them so I won't be too critical of him at this point.

I love how this team is out-working teams and winning based on grit. Good to see.

Luongo's numbers are low because we limit the amount of shots directed at him. He has long been accustom to a heavy workload, evident by how frequently AV relied on him to handle 35+ shots a game. Torts does the precise opposite, thus when a puck does beat him, it ruins his stats. Lu was solid last night, yet finished the game with a .895.

I agree, he has not been spectacular, although he has not had to be. Given how well we have played, I am not too concerned.

 

[Brenton Williams]

Luongo's numbers are low because we limit the amount of shots directed at him. He has long been accustom to a heavy workload, evident by how frequently AV relied on him to handle 35+ shots a game. Torts does the precise opposite, thus when a puck does beat him, it ruins his stats. Lu was solid last night, yet finished the game with a .895.

I agree, he has not been spectacular, although he has not had to be. Given how well we have played, I am not too concerned.

King Henrik's numbers under Torts challenges that explanation.

I think Luongo has been fighting the puck a bit and has allowed a few softies. Simple as that. He's played decent overall though and has made some extremely timely saves.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Luongo has looked solid to me. We're still giving up too many Grade A chances but limiting overall shots. Last night he stops Ovie on a penalty shot. That only counts as one shot but it's a great scoring opportunity. If the team can reduce the mistakes on coverage as they become more familar with the system I think Luongo's numbers will improve.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Luongo just looks like October Luongo to me; great at times, mostly good, crap in others.

The only thing to care about is the team is still getting wins while he finds his form.

 

[Barney Gumble]

King Henrik's numbers under Torts challenges that explanation.

I think Luongo has been fighting the puck a bit and has allowed a few softies. Simple as that. He's played decent overall though and has made some extremely timely saves.

That assumes both goalies are exact clones of each other. Fact is, even when Luongo is "on the top of his form" he has *always* been subject to letting in a "softie" when there's been a prolonged "lack of activity" in our own end. I haven't watched the Rags that closely so I don't know if King Henrik isn't affected by this same problem.

 

[Brenton Williams]

That assumes both goalies are exact clones of each other. Fact is, even when Luongo is "on the top of his form" he has *always* been subject to letting in a "softie" when there's been a prolonged "lack of activity" in our own end. I haven't watched the Rags that closely so I don't know if King Henrik isn't affected by this same problem.

I'm not sure if that's true, or at the very least, if it's any more true than any other goalie. I don't think people watch enough hockey around the league or have the stats to truly state this is a Luongo phenomenom.

Either way, Luongo's SV% should be higher, especially under this system and the way the Nucks are playing. And I expect it will be as he begins to play a little better.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

King Henrik's numbers under Torts challenges that explanation.

I think Luongo has been fighting the puck a bit and has allowed a few softies. Simple as that. He's played decent overall though and has made some extremely timely saves.

Lundqvist and Torts were together for five years. Luongo has only played Torts' system for a month. He is still adjusting not only to the lack of work in our own zone, but the shot blocking and overall increased defensively responsibilities of the forwards. He said himself it was difficult and would take some getting use to.

Like I said, Lu is still not up to form. I am just not concerned about it right now. Frankly, this is probably one of his better Octobers.

 

[y2kcanucks]

King Henrik's numbers under Torts challenges that explanation.

I think Luongo has been fighting the puck a bit and has allowed a few softies. Simple as that. He's played decent overall though and has made some extremely timely saves.

I will also say that Luongo has been the victim of some bad defensive lapses. This has been a transition for our defense to have to play a different style so I suppose some lapses were to be expected.

 

[Regal]

I will also say that Luongo has been the victim of some bad defensive lapses. This has been a transition for our defense to have to play a different style so I suppose some lapses were to be expected.

I think there's also been some disconnect between what the defense is doing and what Lu thinks they're going to do at times. That will sort itself out over time as well.

 

[Drop the Sopel]

I will also say that Luongo has been the victim of some bad defensive lapses. This has been a transition for our defense to have to play a different style so I suppose some lapses were to be expected.

I would say he's played behind one of the better defensive teams in the NHL thus far. After a few bad games to start the year the team has really started to take away the slot area and decrease the number of quality looks in high percentage shooting areas.

Luongo ALWAYS looks better from November onward. I would expect his numbers to improve as he settles in over the next few weeks.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I think there's also been some disconnect between what the defense is doing and what Lu thinks they're going to do at times. That will sort itself out over time as well.

That's the way I see it too. A number of goals have been scored where players improperly blocked shots or hesitated gong down to block. I think this will be eliminated.
I will also add that I've noticed a big difference for the most part between first period Luongo and third period Luongo. He's given up a number of early goals but has really shut it down in the third period and overtime which is, in part, why we've had so many comeback wins.

 

[opendoor]

Thing is, he's not really playing all that well - his save % is 22nd of 27 goalies that have appeared in at least 7 games.

He has, however, been pretty clutch and not allowed weak goals late in close games. We're 7-0-1 in one-goal games and a lot of that is Luongo. He's battled hard, even when he's looked like he's fighting the puck.

That and no blowouts, at least not yet. He has been pulled from a game every single October since 2006 and that hasn't happened yet this year. Though I suppose if there was a game for it to happen it'd be against Detroit tomorrow.

 

[Catamarca Livin]

Game with Detroit should be interesting. Our lower ranked D men, Tanev and Stanton make the least mistakes. Although the team has had injuries but having for the most part the same D lineup game after game is huge. They are improving as a group. Though Bieksa/Edler making mistakes is a given they make good plays as well and we need a couple d men that throw a good hit or two.