How are we doing so far?

[PaulGG]

Your opinions?
Mine:
PK looks ok.
PP looks improved
Offense looks good
Team defense not so good. Too many GA.
Goalies - average

Main issue ,we continue to suffer with slow starts which has us in catchup mode too often.

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[DFC]

PP looks very, very strong to me. PK too. If I'm not mistaken, we're top-5 in both. Over the course of a season, that's going to pay off. It was our pp letting us down last year (and for several years before that). We should have won more games than we did, and would have if we'd had an average pp.

Defensive gaffes have always haunted this team. I feel like we actually play very solid defense, most of the time, but when somebody makes a mistake, it's usually a doozy. This is an old, old problem too.

 

[Leonardo87]

Think we are doing well, could be better at ES, but both special teams are top in the league now. Goalies seem be getting better at this point, and once Drouin gets back we should be able to throw out 3 strong scoring lines.

 

[PaulGG]

Defensive gaffes have always haunted this team. I feel like we actually play very solid defense, most of the time, but when somebody makes a mistake, it's usually a doozy. This is an old, old problem too.

Yes, very true we are good enough to go deep in playoffs so we aren't bad . Just looking shaky so far especially when a team presses us back in the zone. The forwards perhaps need to help out more.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Greatly disappointed with the 5v5 game so far. Puck possession is almost decent but the lack of scoring chances created at even strength has me a little worried.

 

[These Are The Days]

I sincerely doubt that we will win the division considering that the Habs have decided that they are going to go full on God mode whenever Price is in net but I have no doubt that this team will find it's focus. When we do..... look out.

We've played well and awful. Pretty much what I'd expect. Nothing has alarmed me yet other than Bishop

 

[MattM92]

Special teams look fantastic. 5v5 is subpar. Our CF% is down over 2% from last year. We aren't using our strengths (speed and skill) to our advantage. We try to water everything down in the neutral zone and have trench warfare with the other team instead of using our speed in a dump and chase game when the opponent is muddying up the neutral zone.

 

[Glide5]

Well here's the good and the bad news. 11 games into the season, and this team has, frankly, played a single full game (against the Islanders). This team is playing so far below it's potential that it is almost sickening at times, and yet they are still finding ways to win the games that they play poorly in. Take this back 3-4 years, and we would be about 2-8-1 right now, not 6-4-1. The issue is all the same problems from last year are the problems of this year, and I dont know if we are going to get the same stroke of genius that we had in January/ February to get the 8-9 game win streaks.

At the start of the year I felt like we were going to struggle a lot and maybe even miss the playoffs, and I've seen nothing to change that feeling so far. Especially with Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, and to a lesser extent Boston playing above their projections. We have long ways to go, but hell, its a long season too. Just got to get a point streak going more than anything right now.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I think were doing ok. We lost some games but you have to understand that teams are out to get us. We have been one of the best teams in the league the last few years. Teams get up to play the Lightning. It's a good measuring stick.

I think our team still has some kinks to work out. But let's not kid ourselves this team is very very good when they are on their game. If they are on their game when it matters there isn't much to worry about.

 

[DFC]

I think we're still playing a lot better than last year, all in all. NHL teams are tough. We don't have to dominate to look good. Sometimes the game swings against us, but that's natural. It happens to every other contending team too.

I'm confident our goaltending, one way or another, will get back up to what we're used to. That's the one thing that's been truly supbar this year.

 

[Sky04]

Goaltending and 5 on 5 skill suck.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

not happy with how we start games at all

not happy on paying attention in d zone

happy with pk its been great power play improved looks much better

happy with point killer hedman stamkos and kucherov

rest are starting a bit slow especially defense koekkoek is real deal be happy to never see nesterov ever again

tyjo and palat have no real issues bad start im not worried about them as cooper said the other day

tonight was vasys best game and for my two cents the best game of the year

we still got a lot of work to do and id like us to give up and limit shots

look at all the blocks by ny tonight especially in that third?

why are we giving up high 30 shots per game?

we are better then that imho

i am ok with the start not happy but ok with it as long as we work hard

see how i feel after the 5 game road trip and satursdays game with the sharks

 

[Todd1a]

I'm ok with the start we are playing ok! You look at Montreal 12-1-1 start that's honestly what we should have done! For a team most experts picked us to win the Stanley cup. Really right now where are we a point ahead of a redwings team that will just contend for a wild card. Our starts have been bad two games all year when we got the first goal! Both vs the islanders and the other sorry vs the leafs. The frustration part is I know these guys have it in them to be much better.

 

[The Gongshow]

Usually slow to awful starts. Bishop has looked shaky at times. 5 on 5 scoring is way down. Its great to have a PP but relying on it too much can be a bad thing

 

[Todd1a]

Usually slow to awful starts. Bishop has looked shaky at times. 5 on 5 scoring is way down. Its great to have a PP but relying on it too much can be a bad thing

Right now bishop is so up and down but we are allowing a ton of shots per game.

 

[Flat Ronnie]

I would say that the 5v5 play is a bit concerning in the sense that our forward depth was supposed to be our undeniable advantage.

I know Drouin is out, but Stamkos has been the only permanent threat since game 1. Now that Kucherov has joined him over the past 2 weeks, that's 2 guys who are the game in, game out offensive threat.

I understand that Palat, Johnson and Drouin have had their moments and Johnson is starting to heat up, but they will eventually have to be more consistent if we're gonna get to where we need to be.


All that said, having Stamkos/Kucherov as a 1-2 punch is a great luxury to have.

 

[DFC]

I would say that the 5v5 play is a bit concerning in the sense that our forward depth was supposed to be our undeniable advantage.

I know Drouin is out, but Stamkos has been the only permanent threat since game 1. Kucherov has become a permanent threat over the past 2 weeks.

So that's 2 guys who are the game in, game out offensive threat.

I understand that Palat, Johnson and Drouin have had their moments and Johnson is starting to heat up, but they will eventually have to be more consistent if we're gonna get to where we need to be.


All that said, having Stamkos/Kucherov as a 1-2 punch is a great luxury to have.

I don't know that I'd call it inconsistent so much as a slow start for some guys. Johnson and Kucherov looked rusty, Johnson because he missed the WC, so all the other top tier players were just performing at a different level than he was by the time the season started. Kucherov because he left the WC and missed training camp while waiting for his contract to get sorted out.

Then there's Palat, who just always starts slow. This is his fourth year in the league, and this is his fourth slow start.

That's not to say it's okay that these players started slowly, it's just to say there's more reason for optimism than pessimism.

TyJo, for instance, has regained his speed. That's bad news for every team in the league, because he's very hard to contain when he's skating the way he is right now. Had he played in the WC, I would argue that he'd have come out of the gate playing the way he is right now (if he didn't get injured, but that's a whole other issue).

The reason to be optimistic about Kucherov is that I don't think we've ever seen him perform at this level. Even when he was dominant in the playoffs, there was a lot of opportunism involved. Right now, he's taking over games even when he's not scoring. It looks, to me anyway, like this is his ceiling. He might not play at this level all the time, but it's nice to know he has it in him. Knock on wood, but he's playing like a 100 point producer. Not 70, not 80. He's playing like one of the best few offensive forces in the NHL.

Palat will lead the team in second half scoring. I can't defend his slow starts. I can only point to his pattern.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Yeah we're absolute **** at even strength for a forward depth of that caliber. Boring.

 

[The Gongshow]

Need to find some consistency. Cant win 1 then lose 2, etc etc we need a nice winning streak going. Gonna miss these points come March.