Post-Game Talk: McDavid Giveth and Taketh

[LTIR]

??? Sarcasm?

Why? You think Nuge's line played good today?
It was easily our worst line IMO.
Maybe it's time to separate Nuge and Neal.

Khaira-Sheahan-Neal 2a
Xxx-RNH-Gagner 2b

 

[SwedishFire]

Maybe it's time to separate Nuge and Neal.

Khaira-Sheahan-Neal 2a
Xxx-RNH-Gagner 2b

YES! Good intiative. Neal is to proud, and to much of a role goalscorer to be a 3rd liner, and RNH is to good and expensive to be a 3rd liner

Make two 2nd lines. ANd the last meat line with Khaira Sheahan - Prussel.

Haas Granlund (yuck) Neal
Nygård Nuge Archibald

Or to continue your task
Khaira Sheahan Neal (But that will be like zero goals for Neal)
Haas Nuge Gagner

 

[voxel]

Meh. Eventually McDavid’s idea of defense - weakly stick checking - would result in a loss. His offense has sugar coated his defensive issues.

I am still pissed we played a defensive ring it around the boards 3rd period as if we were on the PK. I thought our entire D except Klefbom were a little rough. Jones still needs more AHL time.

 

[I am the Liquor]

Would you drink her bathwater?

She would drink mine.

 

[fuswald]

Nuge's line turned into a possession black hole like every line Archibald has played on his NHL career.

His play reminds me of Sammy snow pants. Huge effort, appearing to do the right things, getting nothing done.

 

[McDNicks17]

Hopefully they keep Bear in that spot on the PP.

There isn't a single other player on the team who makes the play he did on his goal.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

I think Connor has the IQ to be great everywhere on the ice... it's the willingness to that's the issue now. And the willingness to improve in that area. He's too heavily focused on offence and cheating for offence... thinking about ways to get a jump on the defenders on potential turnovers.... not stopping on pucks so he can maintain his momentum and get that extra jump and acceleration should a puck be turned over.

Sometimes you can see that in our d zone, Connor is actually the man closest to battle for the puck or gather a loose puck but he'll skate away from it hoping a teammate will do it instead and spring him for a pass. sometimes it works out, sometimes the opposition easily maintains control and keeps it in our zone. It's cheating. Some games he does it a lot. People can say he's tired and he's one of the only one who can produce (and so it somehow makes it "ok") but you just cannot do those things on a consistent basis. There is a time and place to do those things in rare desperate situations.

I think it boils down to them just valuing defence more. Putting in that extra effort to generate offence from strong defending. It's harder and a lot more of a grind but your team will be better for it overall. It sets a great example too. Points might suffer but your team will be better and it will translate more if you reach the playoffs.

Connor's effort on the defensive side and in terms of battling for pucks is at best inconsistent and at worst noticably lacking. His play reminds me somewhat of Yzerman before he learned to play a complete game.

He's all world in a lot of ways skill wise but if there's a double standard in terms of what your captain is allowed to get away with then it's going to have a trickle down effect. Compare that to a captain like Buchberger who is the complete opposite, limited skill and all effort and sacrifice, and that mindset/example helped ellevate his teams to some playoff upsets (Cujo not withstanding). If Connor could tap into some of that then he would be the complete package. If that requires him playing a few less minutes a night then so be it but that's how you become a captain that teammates will do anything for and up their own games for.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Tough crowd.

Thought Sekera had a good game.

Another point in the bank.

 

[Stoneman89]

Draisatl wants to be a two way player, that is good offensively and solid defensively. I would say after yesterday's game, you have a ways to go, Leon.

Don't even get me started on McDavid. Love his talent and drive, but there is one hell of a lot more than making pretty plays and skating like hell when you have the puck. This team is simply not good enough at this stage to make up for a one way game. I'm sure he knows it, and Tippet is trying to drill it into both of their heads, but it's clearly going to take some time to tame these two horses. They keep saying there is lesson learned, but at some point, they need to learn the same lesson and stick with it.

Yes, I know we got a point, blah, blah , blah, but we pissed away 2 we should have had in a type of statement game, and very easily could have lost both of them, and all at home, to boot. Now, we have a huge game coming up against a team that owns us. Will be interesting to see how they respond.

 

[Stoneman89]

take the point and move on.

Koskinen looks stellar. McDavid returning to unbeatable form....and the team generally should be good enough to get to the playoffs IMO.

need to keep rollin these mufa-s

Must have missed something. Who exactly did we roll?

 

[BlackDogg]

Where's that guy that always talks about drai? Just realized it's been quiet

 

[MaxR11]

Connor's effort on the defensive side and in terms of battling for pucks is at best inconsistent and at worst noticably lacking. His play reminds me somewhat of Yzerman before he learned to play a complete game.

He's all world in a lot of ways skill wise but if there's a double standard in terms of what your captain is allowed to get away with then it's going to have a trickle down effect. Compare that to a captain like Buchberger who is the complete opposite, limited skill and all effort and sacrifice, and that mindset/example helped ellevate his teams to some playoff upsets (Cujo not withstanding). If Connor could tap into some of that then he would be the complete package. If that requires him playing a few less minutes a night then so be it but that's how you become a captain that teammates will do anything for and up their own games for.

Bang on. Connor makes the team better now because, well, he's just so talented and superior. Does he elevate the rest of the team (not on his line) with inspired effort and example? Not sure. This is something he needs to add to his repertoire as a captain.

I dont want to criticize Connor but like i said, this is not a one off. It's been happenening for years (it got to it's worse point last year where it felt like people were constantly complaining about drai and connor's defensive effort). You can almost tell right from the first few minutes some games that Connor and Drai's mental and physical defensive engagement is just not going to be there today and they have points on their minds.

We've seen what happens in the past regime of young guns when you cannot get them to buy in or give them too long a leash in those regards. It will come back to bite the team in the butt. Now obviously it wouldn't be as bad with connor and drai because they are soooo much better than hall, ebs, yak etc but if we want outr team to function at a more optimal level and be a serious contender for a cup..... these things need to be addressed and permanently rectified. The way your best players play can make a huge difference as to how the rest of the team follows in that play. Make it a habit to play a certain way. Need more of that mindset of "WE, not ME". No doubt, points are definitely important to connor and drai and it does help give that extra push to produce but there needs to be a better balance between that and defence and team success and play. Right now, at times, there's definitely a bit of stats padding mindset. It's almost like you'll never see connor or drai NOT pass to one another on a 2 on 1 especially if the other player hasn't yet touched the puck to get an apple. Don't like that mindset. It's like they're playing a bit more for helping each other get points rather than helping the team WIN and be better.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Must have missed something. Who exactly did we roll?

Avalanche.

 

[Stoneman89]

Good comments and analysis by many. I seem to get a sense of a bit of arrogance on this team at times, and also some satisfaction at small samplings of success. Which really is crazy, because they finished near the bottom of the league once again last year, and have been the laughing stock of the league for many years, so they have every reason to be driven this year. I'm not expecting the Presidents Cup this year, but yesterdays game was yet another where there seemed to be satisfaction achieved and then the gas gets turned off.

 

[Stoneman89]

Avalanche.

Pretty sure we played them 2 games ago. Who did we roll yesterday?

 

[RegDunlop]

I'll put some heat on Tippet as well. For the tying goal why have the big line out there when they've allowed goals against w/o picking up coverage. Ride the 1 goal lead game out by grinding and defensive play.

But...
I'm sure they're forgiven

 

[MaxR11]

Good comments and analysis by many. I seem to get a sense of a bit of arrogance on this team at times, and also some satisfaction at small samplings of success. Which really is crazy, because they finished near the bottom of the league once again last year, and have been the laughing stock of the league for many years, so they have every reason to be driven this year. I'm not expecting the Presidents Cup this year, but yesterdays game was yet another where there seemed to be satisfaction achieved and then the gas gets turned off.

yup, confidence is good but over confidence and arrogance can be trouble. this team has already experienced that before after the 2017 playoff run. They even said part way through the 17-18 season that they got over confident and lost their way, their effort and urgency and thought they could roll over teams. They got into bad habits and we see how hard bad habits can be to rectify sometimes.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Pretty sure we played them 2 games ago. Who did we roll yesterday?

He didn’t say last game... he said keep rolling mufus (whatever that word is) aka teams I assume.

 

[KlefDown]

the loss was pretty shitty given we were 2 up. it should have been in the bank but im not too worried. with the way this season has been going, the boys look more committed in this team than i've ever seen. they'll move on and win
this upcoming road trip is huge. will be fun to watch

 

[LTIR]

Must have missed something. Who exactly did we roll?

Yeh, it's not like we beat team that first in West... Oh wait... That's us!

Keep the great goaltending, great PK, great PP, great top line scoring running.

 

[Stoneman89]

He didn’t say last game... he said keep rolling mufus (whatever that word is) aka teams I assume.

So you're his spokesperson and interpreter? Perhaps let him respond.

 

[McTonyBrar]

Can't possibly pin this loss on the goalie. He pretty much stole us a point tonight.

That 4th and 5th goal.... ugh

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

So you're his spokesperson and interpreter?

No it’s pretty obvious what he meant.

 

[Stoneman89]

Yeh, it's not like we beat team that first in West... Oh wait... That's us!

Keep the great goaltending, great PK, great PP, great top line scoring running.

Yup, you're right, no question we beat ourselves yesterday!

 

[Stoneman89]

No it’s pretty obvious what he meant.

What would that be, Kreskin?