GDT: Game 2: ChickenHawks @ Coyotes |1-20-13| 8PM (Raise the ****ing banner edition)

[zerekstar]

I never had a chance to see last night's game but I thought Morris looked real good in game one and was glad to hear Schlemko is making a name for himself. I think he could be a solid guy out there which would allow us to trade one of our bigger names should the need arise.

 

[MIGs Dog]

I agree with XX on Biz. He is just annoying to watch anymore. He didn't even look good in the staged fight. He's just a complete waste of a roster spot. I'd rather Tippett run a 7th dman than play him.

Miele or nearly every other forward in Portland would be an upside to Biz.

 

[pacerhimself]

That was a tough loss, but it's no doubt how the Black Hawks looked so good. They're obviously a really talented bunch, but as far as stability from last season goes, I think I only saw one new player, and that was Rozsival. The Coyotes made changes to almost every line and are currently deciding between two prospect D men. The Hawks players know what their role is and know how to play with their line mates, some of which have shared a line for the past 3 years.

 

[wpgyotes]

Well, it looks like the lack of practice and lack of pre-season games is catching up with the coyotes. We need a solid system in place and everyone on the same page to win. Chicago obviously has more talent and without our system working, we are going to loose, just like the Dallas game. The question is, how long will it take to get rid of the sloppy play?

Same assessment - team looks pretty solid through 4 lines and the D pairings, but they are making more defensive gaffes then they did last year, and every time it's ending up in their net right now. A combination of breakdowns and sub-par goaltending thus far.

I think a short training camp and no exhibition games has a bigger impact on a team like ours than the Hawks. The Yotes are built on a defensive foundation, and they haven't had enough repetitions in practice and exhibition games for it to innately sink in yet. I know a large part of last year's team is still in tact, but it's been 7 months...

Luckily, they have a couple days to regroup - I'm not ready to hit the panic button yet.

Yandle sucked.

 

[wpgyotes]

Miele or nearly every other forward in Portland would be an upside to Biz.

This. Enforcers needs to be able to play a semi-regular shift nowadays. He cannot. But I guess he's good for social media PR, so they keep him around?? There's probably some waiver fodder out there that would be an upgrade, but they don't have a following on twitter...

 

[Jakey53]

Yandle needs to be benched for a game if he can't play better than he currently is.

Maybe, what you see is what we get? He may have had a career year two years ago, and last year and so far this year is his norm. You have to wonder if GMDM saw this last year and was taking offers in the off season.

 

[Jakey53]

I'm not concerned yet, but they need to get this figured out in a hurry. The simplest analysis is that the Coyotes are just not playing that cohesive defensive game that is needed for this team to win. I don't know if it's the long lockout or short training camp, but if they can get back to playing as a 5 man unit things will balance out. Smith is definitely having a challenge right now, but I think he can get past it as well.

I really liked Schlemko's game tonight. When the team was playing it's best during the game he seemed like he was involved in the play and making good decisions with the puck. Boedker looks good out there and if he can get his hands at the same speed as his feet he'll be finishing.

I thought Schlemko played great, moves around,good stick handling, good positioning and passing. Right now, with his contract and level of play is very valuable to this team.

 

[Jakey53]

Yup

So far Moss is the better pick up.

I agree. Big upgrade on Pyatt. Sullivan on the other hand...

 

[Tom Polakis]

I was worried that the more skilled teams were going to have better starts than those that are built on disciplined systems. It might take another dozen games before this group comes together.

From what I saw at the arena last night, our second worst defenseman was Michalek. Let's hope it's a slow start, but he didn't look very much like the pre-Penguins Michalek.

Two years ago, Whitney was just awful for the first ten games or so. Maybe Sullivan is going through the same thing now.

And not to be too much of a downer, but the history of the NHL is full of average goaltenders who surprised everybody with one great season, and then never returned to form. We're screwed if this is happening with Smith this season. I know, only two games so far...

 

[rt]

The hawks were never standing around in the neutral zone or on the blue lines when they had the puck. It was ALWAYS a fluid entry. Coyotes were limited to dump and chase, turnovers and brute force. None of which can be counted on in the long run. Hawks brought it across the line and passed effortlessly. They smashed the Coyotes with their raw skill. Just bashed them in, as a defense. Yandle was certainly doing his best to help. Lots of poor positioning, stupid passes and poor breakouts.

The line combos were crap, but having been at the game and not knowing Sullivan was hurt (honestly, he is useless. When do we call this experiment over?) kind of gives an idea why Lombardi was out there with Gordon and Biz. Why is Biz on this roster? Why is he in the NHL? He does nothing. He literally had a really bad turnover, and couldn't move the puck forward.

Just a mess. Wishing we had traded Yandle at this point.

Oh wow. Easy killer. Remember like a we ago when we were all blown away with Yandle choosing not to go play for another team? Well, you are seeing some consequences of that decision. The entire NHL looks like a **** show, right now. It's fire wagon hockey all over the league and the raw skill teams are benefitting. It looks like 1987 out there. We are two games in, my friend. It's going to settle in. Also, I've counted one dumb decision by Sullivan and seen a couple of nifty plays. Also saw him get destroyed on the boards. He's one of the smallest and oldest players in the league. He ain't gonna play well after a hit like that. When can we call the experiment a failure? Well hopefully it'll take more than a whole two games.

 

[Jakey53]

The positive is this team hates to lose. They were fired up and pissed off. Limit the stupid mistakes (which is what Tippett does best, thank God) and we've got a good group. They're emotionally invested already. Doan looks like he's in the playoffs. So does morris. It starts with the leaders. It's a good sign.

What about Yandle? He is supposed to be one of our core players, leader and next Captain. He didn't seem pissed. No urgency in his game at all. I am starting to question his hockey IQ. Maybe, just maybe, this is why GMDM was fielding offers for him this past off season.

 

[Jakey53]

I was worried that the more skilled teams were going to have better starts than those that are built on disciplined systems. It might take another dozen games before this group comes together.

From what I saw at the arena last night, our second worst defenseman was Michalek. Let's hope it's a slow start, but he didn't look very much like the pre-Penguins Michalek.

Two years ago, Whitney was just awful for the first ten games or so. Maybe Sullivan is going through the same thing now.

And not to be too much of a downer, but the history of the NHL is full of average goaltenders who surprised everybody with one great season, and then never returned to form. We're screwed if this is happening with Smith this season. I know, only two games so far...

Who was our worst? I thought Michalek was fine. But overall, our defense had a poor game.

 

[rt]

I thought we were done at the beginning of last year and that turned out pretty good so I'm not going to panic. We need to turn it around quick with the short season though. I agree with XX on Biz. He is just annoying to watch anymore. He didn't even look good in the staged fight. He's just a complete waste of a roster spot. I'd rather Tippett run a 7th dman than play him.

Agreed, no need for Biz. That wasn't a traditional staged fight, though. Bollig ran Vrbata and needed to be fought. I wish we had a Bollig who could actually play a regular shift, run guys, and answer the bell.

 

[rt]

Yandle has had two poor games. Smith hasn't been great in two straight. I'm not going to write them off as having peaked already because of two games without camp. C'mon fellas.

As far as lines go, I can see what Tippett was going for. I didn't perceive Dallas as a tremendous offensive threat, and didn't expect Jagr to look like 1993. Dallas has painfully unproven D, and I'd have dressed Rundblad over Schlemko in a game like that, too. Same thing for putting Lombardi on the third, to try to get more offense. Against the Hawks, they can roll one dangerous line after another. Makes sense to dress Schlemko and put put Gordon up with Korpikoski and Moss for more ice time. Bissonnette was in the game because Bollig was and because of some potential lingering bad blood. Low and behold, Bollig did what he does and Biz did what he does. I sure would've hated to see poor Kyle Chipchura have to answer that bell.

 

[mitch27]

What happened to our relentless forcheck that made us so successful last year? It was there in the third but the first two periods it was dump with no chase. Yandle stuck out in the worst possible way. Tippett needs to drill "keep it simple" into his head. I'm really hoping Smith is just rusty because if he is going to play like this all season we're in trouble.


On a positive note, Doan was a monster. Hitting everything, forcing turnovers, creating chances and scoring. Boedker was really good as well, his speed is deadly.I'd really like to see Korpikoski slide in with Hanzal and Vrbata. Korpo has looked really good so far.

 

[okiepig]

Holy smokes way too many people on these boards throwing in the towel - back to back games in different time zones with absolutely no pre season.. of course the highly skilled teams are going to have advantage but I see nothing to panic about yet, next couple of weeks if the same thing is continuing that's different.

But that doesn't happen with a Tippet style system in place- Burke will get Smith settled down and then it's going to be a horse race with a lot of head to head division games that really count.
two games do not make a season, even a short one.

 

[rt]

Holy smokes way too many people on these boards throwing in the towel - back to back games in different time zones with absolutely no pre season.. of course the highly skilled teams are going to have advantage but I see nothing to panic about yet, next couple of weeks if the same thing is continuing that's different.

But that doesn't happen with a Tippet style system in place- Burke will get Smith settled down and then it's going to be a horse race with a lot of head to head division games that really count.
two games do not make a season, even a short one.

Everything gets magnified in a shortened season, I suppose. And it really, really looks like over zealous, over reactions are chief among the magnified elements. The main board is in rare form, right now. They are planning a Chicago Stanley Cup parade, and Jaromir Jagr has already been awarded the Art Ross and Rocket Richard trophies. Never mind that guys like Jagr and teams like Chicago are bound to flourish in loose, sloppy hockey contests where a less skilled opponent plays outside of their system that they depend on, starts running around, and making a ton of uncharacteristic mistakes. Los Angeles is coached by a Sutter. Phoenix has Tippett. Of course these teams are going to take an extra minute to get back into the system. Nobody seems to remember the last few years where Chicago has been heavily criticized for not having an answer for heavily defensive, tight system based teams and a guy like Jagr has disappeared when the going gets too tough.

Things will level out. The NHL will not look like the CHL for a full 48 games. I'm guessing by late next week, we'll all be looking at a very familiar product on the ice.

 

[BUX7PHX]

What happened to our relentless forcheck that made us so successful last year? It was there in the third but the first two periods it was dump with no chase. Yandle stuck out in the worst possible way. Tippett needs to drill "keep it simple" into his head. I'm really hoping Smith is just rusty because if he is going to play like this all season we're in trouble.


On a positive note, Doan was a monster. Hitting everything, forcing turnovers, creating chances and scoring. Boedker was really good as well, his speed is deadly.I'd really like to see Korpikoski slide in with Hanzal and Vrbata. Korpo has looked really good so far.

Tippett needs to drill "keep it simple" into all of our players heads. Too many players are trying for the clever play instead of the safe play. Probably cost us a win in Dallas, and maybe cost us a chance to push this game to OT.

I'm also not going to put it entirely on Smith - some of those goals he'd like to have back, but I believe he also stopped about 3 breakaway attempts. Two of Chicago's goals were lasers into the upper 90 degrees on both the right and left side. There are some pieces that he needs to shore up, for sure, but he has kept us competitive, too.

Now on to Yandle - we know he has talent. The issue for me has always been defensive play and progressing into a better player. He continues to make the same mistakes year after year. Blind passes to no one (the one in the 3rd right down the middle of the ice) do not usually go well. Trying to golf a bouncing puck on the ice in the first 5 minutes of the Dallas game. Yes, he makes some great plays - the assist to Doan was fantastic. But for every good play he makes, he gets caught out of position twice.

This isn't a "trying too hard" or a "justifying contract" thing. He has gotten better in some areas, but for the most part, I think that I'm spot on when I say that he acts with a sense of entitlement, as if though he doesn't have to work on certain pieces of his game and it will just come to him, supposedly. Or he will get the benefit of the doubt on calls. The 'A' is almost like the ring in Lord of the Rings. Everyone wants it, but once you have it, you determine your course, and when players use it as a symbol of power, not as a symbol of continuing to improve for the sake of others around you, it leads to this.

When we are winning, it is easy to hide that he doesn't play well, b/c winning cures all.

 

[rt]

Could not disagree more on Yandle.

 

[Mosby]

Gotta love the Doan handshake after his goal

 

[rt]

Gotta love the Doan handshake after his goal

I actually think he was apologizing for getting too excited and punching the crap out of everyone in the celebration. Haha.

 

[okiepig]

Totally agree rt. I always enjoy reading your thoughts.
Things look bad right now but unless things implode our team looks better line wise than it did last year- even with Sullivan trying to find himself.
Most teams would love to have the log jam we do at defense- and defense today is where it's at..
In a couple of weeks we will be back in the thick of it.

Good puck movement on PP until that BF- I imagine he knows it.
..for once I would like to see a consistent power play with the threat of carrying the puck into the attack zone, Boedker made a couple of good entries.
Is having the threat of a power play too much to hope for?- dump and grind was their bread and butter last year- but it would be nice to have an option.

 

[TickleMeYandle]

In my view, the pieces are all there. It's just a matter of getting used to the new players. There are so many new faces on the team, and they haven't really had much time to get used to playing as lines yet.

Our PP last year was horrible. This year, I'm hopeful. They've had 3 PP goals in two games. Much better than last year.

Smith also seemed to have some unlucky bounces, he got a bit rattled by that. If the rest of the team can get a W for him without him having to stand on his head, he'll get his confidence back.

 

[kihekah19*]

If I may echo what others have said - the higher skilled teams have the advantage here.

The skilled teams ALWAYS have the advantage, BUT part of the beauty of this game is the very grind that makes it the blue collar sport that it is. This grind levels the playing field to a great extent and adds the guts and character that we all admire.

The problem is that this year (with it's shortened season) helps the higher skilled teams further by eliminating much of the grind. These teams will have an easier time maintaining focus and seeing the shine of the sacred Cup at the end of the tunnel.

It will take exemplary effort and dedication to overcome the challenge for the teams with lessor skill.

We have seen exemplary effort and dedication from this team recently - Let's hope we see it again.



.

 

[mitch27]

Gotta love the Doan handshake after his goal

I actually think he was apologizing for getting too excited and punching the crap out of everyone in the celebration. Haha.

That was probably the greatest celebration I've ever seen. i was dying of laughter.