GDT: Game 20 - Blue Jackets vs Blackhawks - "Why Does It Seem Like Every Game is In-Division" - 2/22 7 PM

[DarkandStormy]

Blow it up.

 

[Monstershockey]

How do basketball players get better at shooting free throws ... practice .. and often it’s difference between winning and losing . We had 4 shootout attempts , not one was close . Why is Tex not shooting ?

Yes. And basketball players do a lot of that shooting practice on their own. That's why practice courts have multiple hoops for them to shoot at. Plus free throws are a little different than a penalty shot. There is no one in the shooters face or standing in front of the rim trying to stop their shot. How are you going to practice shootouts? Have Korpi or Elvis play goalie for an hour and risk getting hurt while guys practice their approaches? You can't just put a cone there or an empty net, you need something there that can move or whats the point? These guys shoot at empty nets all the time.

Tex was probably coming up in the rotation. If he shot and missed you would be complaining someone else didn't shoot. There was no problem with any of the 3 that shot. They just didn't get it done.

 

[ViD]

Isn’t it what you guys asked for ? Strong power play, lots of goals scored?

They delivered it with a price of atrocious defense

 

[Monstershockey]

Bemstrom and Foudy should be in . Grigs , Nash to the citgo .

Foudy has missed the last two Monsters games. He may be hurt. The AHL doesn't disclose injuries. You can usually tell by warm ups if a guy is out skating, but they don't show the warm up on the steam so I don't know if he is out there. Being as though he is there to play and isn't, I'll go out on a limb and say he is dinged up.

 

[Fro]

Foudy has missed the last two Monsters games. He may be hurt. The AHL doesn't disclose injuries. You can usually tell by warm ups if a guy is out skating, but they don't show the warm up on the steam so I don't know if he is out there. Being as though he is there to play and isn't, I'll go out on a limb and say he is dinged up.

Jeff posted he was hurt earlier today

 

[KJ Dangler]

coach needs to look in the mirror .. it’s on him .. reminds me of Greg Schiano turning Ohio State into one of the worst defenses in recent memory .. between his scheme , and him in their ear , players played tenative, and were awful thru whole year

 

[Cowumbus]

Bjorkstrand _______ Laine

 

[KCbus]

I don't know why some of you are clamoring for Texier to shoot in the shootout. Like there's fire coming out of his stick these days. It's not some inexcusable oversight for him not to go.

 

[majormajor]

- You wonder why guys aren't trusting each other out there? It's because of plays like this. If I'm on the ice with Domi I'm expecting him to screw up.



- It's this kind of bad coverage that bugs me. You've got guys all around it but no one is taking the Hawks sticks. Domi here is in the right area, but he doesn't touch Hagel, who gets the goal.



- I appreciate the big comeback. This team has one heck of a group of snipers. If they ever fix this defensive mess I think there is room for optimism. They could have won this game if Bjorkstrand can elevate that last chance, which is remarkable given how bad they played defensively.

 

[Finner]

These games are the ones you need to win if you are going to the playoffs.. This doesnt look good at all

 

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[majormajor]

- The new lines, temporary or not, seemed to help. Jenner-Roslovic-Atkinson clicked really well tonight and got about 77% xG%.

- Laine was like a different player all of a sudden, perhaps Foligno and Bjorkstrand were what he needed. We just had a Finnish poster in here saying those were the two he needed. Playdrivers, in a word. People will complain about Foligno and Jenner playing with talented players, but that's what we need sometimes. Good lines are made up of players with complementary skills.

- Texier keeps booting the puck away. He has terrific hands when he isn't skating hard, and terrific skating when he doesn't have the puck, but you put them together and it doesn't work. He's got time, hopefully he figures it out.

- I know Gabe Carlsson got another point but he's not good out there, he can't move like we need him to. We need to get Werenski back on the ice. And if he's not ready then please bring back Kukan. I don't think our defense is at root of our overall defensive problem but with the bottom two pairings like we had tonight we aren't going far. Harrington-Peeke and Carlsson-Savard were both bad.

- Fire Domi into the moon. He's costing us games. I haven't wanted somebody gone this badly since Johansen. I know plenty of folks were praying to god to get rid of Wennberg. But you didn't lose because of Wenny, just nothing happened on the ice. Bad things happen on the ice with Domi.

 

[brendan smith]

How do basketball players get better at shooting free throws ... practice .. and often it’s difference between winning and losing . We had 4 shootout attempts , not one was close . Why is Tex not shooting ?

Allen Iverson entered the chat.

 

[VT]

coach needs to look in the mirror .. it’s on him .. reminds me of Greg Schiano turning Ohio State into one of the worst defenses in recent memory .. between his scheme , and him in their ear , players played tenative, and were awful thru whole year

The coach should ask the coaches of children's schools... were the players taught basic techniques, such as taking the puck, drawing without losing the puck, or even giving the opponent the stick? After this game, I doubt it very much.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[VT]

- The new lines, temporary or not, seemed to help. Jenner-Roslovic-Atkinson clicked really well tonight and got about 77% xG%.

I talk about this for a long time, Roslovik and Atkinson need a player like Jenner or Foligno, who will play well on defense, at the boards, without the puck, and not a technician who, with their style, will not actually get the puck.

- Laine was like a different player all of a sudden, perhaps Foligno and Bjorkstrand were what he needed. We just had a Finnish poster in here saying those were the two he needed. Playdrivers, in a word. People will complain about Foligno and Jenner playing with talented players, but that's what we need sometimes. Good lines are made up of players with complementary skills.

This. Scotty Bowman knew why Daug Brown was assigned to Fedorov and Kozlov, or Babcock and Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom line, now in Washington Ovechkin-Bakstrom -Wilson.

Fire Domi into the moon. He's costing us games. I haven't wanted somebody gone this badly since Johansen. I know plenty of folks were praying to god to get rid of Wennberg. But you didn't lose because of Wenny, just nothing happened on the ice. Bad things happen on the ice with Domi.

I do not agree, Domi is a good player, and today he was not the main reason, this can happen to anyone. Here it is better to think about the actions of Savard, who was the hero of this evening.

 

[majormajor]

How do basketball players get better at shooting free throws ... practice .. and often it’s difference between winning and losing . We had 4 shootout attempts , not one was close . Why is Tex not shooting ?

They practice 1 on 1 with the goalie all the time, and the team keeps stats on practice breakaways so that they know who to go with in shootouts.

Torts said they don't have time to practice 3v3 this year, which is super unfortunate, and possibly dumb. Either way that wasn't an issue tonight, they had the puck in most of it, with the bulk of the chances.

 

[majormajor]

I do not agree, Domi is a good player, and today he was not the main reason, this can happen to anyone. Here it is better to think about the actions of Savard, who was the hero of this evening.

I counted three unforced errors that resulted in goals against. Savard putting us 3 v 5 is one of them. The other two were Domi's, in the videos I posted higher up this page. If you review our goals against every game, like I do after every loss, you'll see Domi coming up frequently.

I mean I would much rather see Stenlund and Domi on 3rd and 4th line center over Nash

Their 5v5 results this year (Domi is off the bottom of the page):

	GF	GA
Domi	7	14
Stenlund	6	8
Nash	7	7

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

It's not a matter of tradeoffs either. We actually score less per minute with Domi than we do with Riley Nash! So far it's Stenlund where there is a tradeoff, his numbers are very high considering he's only been in 9 games. That's a lot of goals for and goals against in a short span. Riley Nash has had a lower goals against rate and shots against rate than his teammates, every year of his nine year career. That is actually very rare.

 

[majormajor]

It`s difficult to play in offense if deffensmen can`t pass. Torts can`t teach some players make with puck what they should learn in the children hockey school. I can understand Peeke and Carlsson they`re young and most likely they are afraid of making a mistake, but Gavrikov and Savard? Savard was a Chicago agent in our ranks, and I can't understand his actions any other way. IMHO, he should be benched.
By the way I wouldn't blame Korpisalo, it's not his fault that it is a mess before him.

Why is Gavrikov dragged into this again? He's been good in almost every game lately. People keep throwing his name in there and he's been good.

Savard lost his sh*t tonight. I have to say I enjoyed him attacking in raging bear mode. Hopefully next time he won't be so angry about his own play.

 

[KCbus]

Torts said they don't have time to practice 3v3 this year, which is super unfortunate, and possibly dumb. Either way that wasn't an issue tonight, they had the puck in most of it, with the bulk of the chances.

It's not dumb at all.

There's really not enough time to have proper practices this year at all. When you do finally get a chance, it would be foolish to spend a lot of time on a situation that you only get two to five minutes of game time of, every third or fourth game or so. When your defensive coverage is as terrible as it has been, and when your special teams has struggled at the rate they have, to expect to neglect THAT during practice in favor of working on situations where only one point is at stake by definition -- situations that, again, only happen every third game or so -- I mean, if the people on this board found out that that was what was happening, they would want Tortorella lit on fire while they roasted marshmallows over him.

In fact, now that I think of it, it may explain some of his lineup selections in overtime as well. The guys he's throwing out there may not be the first choice of everyone here, but he at least knows what to expect from those players.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I just want to point out that three of the most popular players to kick around on here this year (Jenner, Cam, Foligno) have been our best players for a little bit now. For a while at the start, it was Bjorkstrand and Texier. But ever since then its been these three (And Laine and Roslovic in there as well) as our most consistent and best players.

I really liked Laine-Foligno-Bjorkstrand. It appears Roslovic is the one who got Cam going, not Laine. Glad to see them split up and FINALLY trying to prop up Bjorkstrand.

Jenner-Rosie-Cam was good too. However it really is unfortunate that Texier is getting left behind here. All of our top tier talent is taken, and he's left with the extras. I would say maybe Domi-Texier-Robinson would work out, but that line would be a mess defensively and benched a lot. Domi is just the ultimate square peg and my patience is running thin with him. His best shift of the game was when he took a penalty and hounded the puck on the forecheck to touch it.

I think we can officially put the Grigorenko experiment to bed for a while. At least until the trade deadline sale of UFA's. If we're going to run someone and barely play them, I'd rather it be Bemstrom.

I'd run with

Laine-Foligno-Bjork
Jenner-Roslovic-Cam
Domi-Texier-Robinson
Bemstrom-Nash-Stenlund

 

[ViD]

Gavrikov played nearly 26 minutes. I wonder if that’s a record for him as well

 

[majormajor]

I just want to point out that three of the most popular players to kick around on here this year (Jenner, Cam, Foligno) have been our best players for a little bit now. For a while at the start, it was Bjorkstrand and Texier. But ever since then its been these three (And Laine and Roslovic in there as well) as our most consistent and best players.

I still thought of Bjorkstrand as our best player. FWIW he had 6 pts in 9 games this month before counting this 2 goal performance, pretty good for being saddled with Domi on his line.

I really liked Laine-Foligno-Bjorkstrand. It appears Roslovic is the one who got Cam going, not Laine. Glad to see them split up and FINALLY trying to prop up Bjorkstrand.

Triggered... Bjorkstrand was there to prop them up!

Jenner-Rosie-Cam was good too. However it really is unfortunate that Texier is getting left behind here. All of our top tier talent is taken, and he's left with the extras. I would say maybe Domi-Texier-Robinson would work out, but that line would be a mess defensively and benched a lot. Domi is just the ultimate square peg and my patience is running thin with him. His best shift of the game was when he took a penalty and hounded the puck on the forecheck to touch it.

I think we can officially put the Grigorenko experiment to bed for a while. At least until the trade deadline sale of UFA's. If we're going to run someone and barely play them, I'd rather it be Bemstrom.

I'd run with

Laine-Foligno-Bjork
Jenner-Roslovic-Cam
Domi-Texier-Robinson
Bemstrom-Nash-Stenlund

Texier isn't going to help anyone score if he keeps booting it. It's really on him that he hasn't been scoring, not a linemate issue in my opinion. And Torts loves him, as soon as he regains his form he'll take that 2LW spot from Jenner right away.

I do like your lines, I'd try them. I think Robinson helps a lot defensively so maybe that will actually click. Domi can at least take faceoffs for Tex. That might be the only thing Domi has been okay at. He's killing us with and without the puck. For me it's not patience running thin, it's get this guy off my team now.

 

[Timeless Winter]

Wish we'd give Vehvelainen a chance. We know what Korpisalo is now.

 

[BullLund]

Wish we'd give Vehvelainen a chance. We know what Korpisalo is now.

He's good enough for a back-up goalie, atleast if he's playing behind a good defense. Which so far Columbus haven't had.

It's just too bad that Elvis keeps getting injured because he has far more "stealing a game for the Jackets" potential than Korpisalo, who can make the necessary saves but not much beyond that.

Right now Columbus needs a goalie who can steal games, because the defense just isn't making it.