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

[VT]

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.

I like Gavrikov and if your stopped I don't critize him. But his beginning of attack wasn't ideal like Savard.
To Savard. Today (for me) he was "hero". I can't remember he would have normal the first pass but he doesn't play ideal in our zone he had problems play under pressure.

 

[VT]

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.

The whole problem was Laine often had to run without the puck but but the opposing players focused on him, so Roslovik and Atkinson had quite a lot of space, but neither of them could support Laine. I'm surprised that I scored points with them at all. Now they have Jenner with them, if you remember, I always said that they need a player who will run after them, play without the puck, win the fight at the boards. We'll see what happens with the attack because there won't be a player to focus on specifically. On the contrary, Laine opened Bjorkstrand's hands, nice example Bjork's the second goal. But Bjork, along with Nick, helped Patrick, since he would not be engaged speed skating, Nick very good plays without the puck, on the board and defense, so Patrik and Bjork had more time for offense. See how in the future.

 

[LazyCircuits]

I woke in this crazy alternate universe where the Jackets score on seemingly every power play but can't defend simple plays....definitely time to go back to bed.

 

[tchigo]

Just watched the game...
Come on.

Lots of thing to say on regulation time, but I was not too unhappy with the line changes that Torts did.

OT! Only a few players have the chance to play, and I'm not quite sure they are the ones that deserve it. They had puck possession most of the time, but why always 13 and 71. With space on the ice, I am sure 42 would have been as good

But seriously, how ridiculous is this choice of players for shootout? Atkinson is hot right now, but it has more to do with luck than ability with the puck. And Roslovic, what a joke! I mean, Texier last SO goal was superb, why not giving him a chance? Torts wants the team to win or to give the opportunity to his favorite players to score the winning goal.

Well, I need to calm down, I am going to read the game thread now, which is most of the time much more entertaining than the game itself

 

[tchigo]

So how is Torts supposed to coach someone on a penalty shot. Two guys lost control of the puck and the other was a lame shot. Putting that on Torts not practicing the shootout is ludicrous.

I wonder how many penalty shots Atkinson scored in his career?

Torts need to be consistent. If a player scores a penalty shot (Texier), he should be put in the next SO. Similarly, 13 and 96 should not have a try next time, because they were not even able to shoot the puck! I'd suggest 42, 28 and 29.

 

[KJ Dangler]

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

Yup, it appears we missed an opportunity to get a really solid asset in return , at least for the short term . A 3.56 gaa and .886 save % now , on the season .

 

[GoJackets1]

Just watched the game...
Come on.

Lots of thing to say on regulation time, but I was not too unhappy with the line changes that Torts did.

OT! Only a few players have the chance to play, and I'm not quite sure they are the ones that deserve it. They had puck possession most of the time, but why always 13 and 71. With space on the ice, I am sure 42 would have been as good

But seriously, how ridiculous is this choice of players for shootout? Atkinson is hot right now, but it has more to do with luck than ability with the puck. And Roslovic, what a joke! I mean, Texier last SO goal was superb, why not giving him a chance? Torts wants the team to win or to give the opportunity to his favorite players to score the winning goal.

Well, I need to calm down, I am going to read the game thread now, which is most of the time much more entertaining than the game itself

Atkinson is pretty good in the shootout. That said, he has one move he's used for 10 years, and Lankinen was clearly ready for it. He gave up almost the entire right side of the net because he knew Cam was going to go short side.

 

[cslebn]

I wonder how many penalty shots Atkinson scored in his career?

Torts need to be consistent. If a player scores a penalty shot (Texier), he should be put in the next SO. Similarly, 13 and 96 should not have a try next time, because they were not even able to shoot the puck! I'd suggest 42, 28 and 29.

Given the way OT ended, 28 didn't deserve a SO attempt. That and the missed penalty shot suggest he's not the best for that role.

 

[EDM]

Atkinson has always been a very good penalty shot/shoot out scorer over his whole career. You "Johnny come lately" fans just have not seen it. His ability to score one on one against a goalie is reflected in his very high number of short handed goals. You people who are in love with Tex because he scored ONE shoot out goal are ridiculous. Tex has been very poor in his puck position and puck control for a couple of weeks now. And if you read about what actually goes on in practice you would know that they DO have one on one practice with the shooters and goalies AND that Torts and his staff keep stats of how each shooter is doing during the one on ones. And Torts uses that data to select his shooters.

 

[tchigo]

Given the way OT ended, 28 didn't deserve a SO attempt. That and the missed penalty shot suggest he's not the best for that role.

Yes you're right. I had just hard time finding another player. Maybe 71?

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

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

You mean the guy who has played in 1 of Cleveland's 4 games with an .875 save percentage?

I'm in no way convinced this guy can handle NHL goal play and might be another victim of the Jarmo hype train.

 

[MoeBartoli]

Given the way OT ended, 28 didn't deserve a SO attempt. That and the missed penalty shot suggest he's not the best for that role.

Huge Bjork fan but his goal scoring is rooted in snipes, not breakaway moves. But I would cite the PS rather than OT as the example.

 

[tchigo]

Atkinson has always been a very good penalty shot/shoot out scorer over his whole career. You "Johnny come lately" fans just have not seen it. His ability to score one on one against a goalie is reflected in his very high number of short handed goals. You people who are in love with Tex because he scored ONE shoot out goal are ridiculous. Tex has been very poor in his puck position and puck control for a couple of weeks now. And if you read about what actually goes on in practice you would know that they DO have one on one practice with the shooters and goalies AND that Torts and his staff keep stats of how each shooter is doing during the one on ones. And Torts uses that data to select his shooters.

You need to compare what is comparable. Puck control during a SO is different than on 5 on 5.
What does very good penalty shot/shoot out scorer mean in terms of stats?
I suppose Cam has a high number of short handed goals because of his position and minutes during PKs.
I have to agree Tex has not been good lately though.

I am rather a Tex come lately fan btw.

 

[EDM]

Tchigo you certainly are. Your idea that Atkinson has a high rate of short handed goals because he plays so much on the penalty kill is silly. We have lots of guys who play big minutes on the penalty kill (Jenner, Nash, Foligno) and they have very few short handed goals between them. Atkinson recently passed Rick Nash for the CBJ career lead in short handed goals. He is the leader in thw entire NHL in short handed goals this year. He is not a fluke. Tex's one shoot out goal, however could easily be that kind of fluke.

 

[DarkandStormy]

You mean the guy who has played in 1 of Cleveland's 4 games with an .875 save percentage?

I'm in no way convinced this guy can handle NHL goal play and might be another victim of the Jarmo hype train.

Korpisalo is an .886 this year and VV has played one game in Cleveland.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

You mean the guy who has played in 1 of Cleveland's 4 games with an .875 save percentage?

I'm in no way convinced this guy can handle NHL goal play and might be another victim of the Jarmo hype train.

in fairness, the hyping was more done on here. I don’t recall jarmo speaking much at all about VV. The ones he raved over was Elvis and Tarasov.

 

[tchigo]

Tchigo you certainly are. Your idea that Atkinson has a high rate of short handed goals because he plays so much on the penalty kill is silly. We have lots of guys who play big minutes on the penalty kill (Jenner, Nash, Foligno) and they have very few short handed goals between them. Atkinson recently passed Rick Nash for the CBJ career lead in short handed goals. He is the leader in thw entire NHL in short handed goals this year. He is not a fluke. Tex's one shoot out goal, however could easily be that kind of fluke.

You might be right.
Jenner, Nash, Foligno are not in the same position as Cam on PK though, and play a different role. Cam is there to intercept the puck at the blue line and use his speed (Robinson could probably do the same). He does that pretty well.
Atkinson has a high rate of short handed goals because he plays so much on the penalty kill does not sound silly to me. He's the one that gets most of CBJ'S chances on PK given his high position in the DZ.

 

[cslebn]

Huge Bjork fan but his goal scoring is rooted in snipes, not breakaway moves. But I would cite the PS rather than OT as the example.

Both work as proof. He's a gifted player and I love how he plays but heck Milano was better for this.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Korpisalo is an .886 this year and VV has played one game in Cleveland.

Behind an almost 35 year old journeyman part time goalie coach.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

in fairness, the hyping was more done on here. I don’t recall jarmo speaking much at all about VV. The ones he raved over was Elvis and Tarasov.

Fair enough point. I know he hyped future goalie depth in general across the board when Bob left.

 

[Monstershockey]

I wonder how many penalty shots Atkinson scored in his career?

Torts need to be consistent. If a player scores a penalty shot (Texier), he should be put in the next SO. Similarly, 13 and 96 should not have a try next time, because they were not even able to shoot the puck! I'd suggest 42, 28 and 29.

Atkinson is 34 % in his career in the shootout. Laine is 47. Really, if Torts went by percentages, the next guy to shoot would give our resident Torts whiners fits. Riley Nash is 40%. These numbers are 10 shots minimum.

To be honest though, I really couldn't care less about the shootout with all the other problems this team faces right now. It wasn't the shootout that lost us this game.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Behind an almost 35 year old journeyman part time goalie coach.

Says more about the absurdity of the strategy in Cleveland than it does about VV, unless he had an undisclosed injury like Foudy.

We need to see if this kid can play in NA...play him. As of now, it looks like coming to North America broke him but the staff is doing him no favors.

 

[Jive Pawnbroker]

The lack of defensive structure this team has is nothing short of shocking given their recent history. It wasn't good at the beginning of the season and it's getting worse as the season goes along. I have no hope that this team can figure it out before it's too late, if it isn't already.

 

[Monstershockey]

Says more about the absurdity of the strategy in Cleveland than it does about VV, unless he had an undisclosed injury like Foudy.

We need to see if this kid can play in NA...play him. As of now, it looks like coming to North America broke him but the staff is doing him no favors.

VV didn't dress for the first two games. He was back up for the third, and they were probably holding him back so he didn't play to many games in a row too fast and risk re-injury. Last night was the second of a back to back. If he came out alright, he will probably get the bulk of the starts. I am sure they would rather not have to play Thiessen.

As far as absurdity in Cleveland goes, I think Eaves is doing a good job with what he has to work with, there really isn't a large amount of Jacket prospects here. Also not playing for any kind of postseason probably makes it harder for these guys to get ready to play.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Says more about the absurdity of the strategy in Cleveland than it does about VV, unless he had an undisclosed injury like Foudy.

We need to see if this kid can play in NA...play him. As of now, it looks like coming to North America broke him but the staff is doing him no favors.

Could be injury, could be performance, could be because his car died.

In either circumstance I fail to find a valid reason he should be given an NHL start at this time.

Maybe late in the season when we are playing for the draft lottery but not right now.