Post-Game Talk: Nashville @ San Jose - Game 5: The Big Game Edition

[hido]

This team is tired. Just tired. The only team without a built in day off. They have had the most games in the tightest window of days, and they have doubled the travel of EVERY team in the league, and tripled/quadrupled or more most of the other teams. The Preds aren't practicing right now, they are recovering.

Gear up for game 6. The stars and veterans on this team are going to have to will them to victory. It starts with Rinne. It ends with Weber, Fisher, and Neal.

Thank you. I appreciate the team not using it as an excuse, but this schedule/ travel has been completely brutal. I'm glad hockey isn't the NBA and stretches series out for three weeks but this schedule has been insane. Alas, these are the cards we were dealt and we gotta win one at home and one on the road.

I'll now go back to lurking like I have for over a decade...

116, row B STH. Thanks to all of you for teaching me the game.

 

[sparkle twin]

Awful. Just a terrible game. Came out too passive. I feel like they thought they could just ease into the game while sj came out determined to take the game early.

I guess we just want to do this the hard way.



I swear, old man Thornton needs to go sit in his damn rocking chair already. When he was with Boston he was one of my favorite players. Then we played him with the Sharks the first time and I have hated him ever since. He's like 230 pounds and when players the size of Arvidsson skate past him, the breeze makes him fall down like he was shot.




Listening to Lavy's presser, that second question was stupid. I don't know who it was, but I can't believe certain people actually get paid for this. (It was not vingan, I know that).

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

This team has gone back and forth from California eight times in three weeks, ten if they went back to Nashville after Anaheim and before San Jose.

Stop and think about that for a second.

 

[INDhockeyfan]

Could not agree more, and to me, this is an angle that is going completely under the radar for just about everyone. I don't think even our own fans realize just how much this team has been through in the past 23 or so days.

It isn't just physically but mentally as well. They just didn't have it tonight and you see that in the regular season all the time when they play a lot of games in a short period of time with a lot of them on the road. It was like game 1 this series. Came off a huge game 7 win and they were tired and had a letdown. It is actually easier to get rest after you lose a long OT game because you can move on while you are so wired up after a win you can't sleep.

This team has comeback time and time again. They'll get some rest and be ready for game 6.

 

[sparkle twin]

This team is tired. Just tired. The only team without a built in day off. They have had the most games in the tightest window of days, and they have doubled the travel of EVERY team in the league, and tripled/quadrupled or more most of the other teams. The Preds aren't practicing right now, they are recovering.

Tonight was game 12 in 23 days. Monday will be 13/25 with over 15000 miles traveled.


I complained about this when the Anaheim schedule came out. It is unbelievable to me that the league would schedule a series that crosses 3 time zones multiple times without an extra day off somewhere. I know we have a day off after game 6, but if we don't win it, it won't matter. Meanwhile they make sure Washington/Pittsburgh/Tampa/NY all have multiple days off in their series. Washington has not even traveled 1000 miles yet. I know TV/ratings are the only thing that matters to the league, but sometime they need to think about the players. I mean they're only the lifeblood of the league.

 

[klt2001]

It's basically do or die next game. No excuses. Going to have to give it their all and leave everything on the ice or go home to play golf.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Tonight was game 12 in 23 days. Monday will be 13/25 with over 15000 miles traveled.


I complained about this when the Anaheim schedule came out. It is unbelievable to me that the league would schedule a series that crosses 3 time zones multiple times without an extra day off somewhere. I know we have a day off after game 6, but if we don't win it, it won't matter. Meanwhile they make sure Washington/Pittsburgh/Tampa/NY all have multiple days off in their series. Washington has not even traveled 1000 miles yet. I know TV/ratings are the only thing that matters to the league, but sometime they need to think about the players. I mean they're only the lifeblood of the league.

This times 1,000. We really got the short end of a very, very, *very* long stick.

 

[PredsHabs]

I agree too. Arvidsson hasn't score but has played his butt off and cause all kinds of issues for the Sharks by causing turn overs and just playing hard/taking bodies and playing good defensively, etc. Only problem I had w/ him was he was falling so much and seems to get knocked over easily, which causes him to lose the puck. I would take him over Ribiero at this point though.

Reminds me of all speed no finish Stalberg. Just my two cents.

 

[Scoresberg]

Well, this was bound to happen. Happened last year in the CHI series, happened again. But like last year this may not matter of how this series is eventually going to end.

Yes, the travels have been really tough and it is certainly showing on the ice. We can't complain about the opponents, to avoid this we should've played better in the reg. season. We can complain about the breaks, though. It is unbelievable how we haven't had an extra day off with traveling twice as much as the next highest traveler. Un-f***ing-believable.

Ribs needs to sit. That's all there is.

Rinne came back to human-form. We need him at his absolute best on Monday. He can do it, he did it in the Ducks series in Game 6 and Game 7.

Again, this team looks beaten. But we've said it all year long and no matter how dead they've looked they've always clawed their way back in. So, no matter how much I think this is the end for this team, I just can't say it out loud. This team can come back from this.

 

[Legionnaire11]

It's kind of funny that the Preds have had any rest days, especially because it's due to Anaheim requesting an extra off day... Worst of all, the Preds haven't had a single weekend home game.

 

[Byrddog]

It's kind of funny that the Preds have had any rest days, especially because it's due to Anaheim requesting an extra off day... Worst of all, the Preds haven't had a single weekend home game.

They had every chance to improve there regular season standing to improve there schedule in the offseason. They blew too many of those games and limped into the playoffs. When your a wildcard you take whatever you can get and had better hit the floor running. It is not a conspiracy from the league against wildcard teams but the other teams who had better records get the nod when it comes to scheduling. We all know this so why is this even discussed. The Preds for the first time came out as the lower seed and beat there opponent in the first round. If they want to advance they need to do the same thing and it will be another game 7 to do it looks like.

 

[drwpreds]

They had every chance to improve there regular season standing to improve there schedule in the offseason. They blew too many of those games and limped into the playoffs. When your a wildcard you take whatever you can get and had better hit the floor running. It is not a conspiracy from the league against wildcard teams but the other teams who had better records get the nod when it comes to scheduling. We all know this so why is this even discussed. The Preds for the first time came out as the lower seed and beat there opponent in the first round. If they want to advance they need to do the same thing and it will be another game 7 to do it looks like.

I don't disagree with much of what you said. And for the record, no one on here is suggesting anything about a conspiracy against the Preds. But the fact of the matter is we got the worst schedule games-wise, and the worst schedule travel wise of all 16 teams, including the other 3 wild cards- even the WC2 teams that we finished ahead of.

It is what it is, but we didn't get this horrible schedule solely because we are a wild card.

The team isn't using it as an excuse, and neither am I but that doesn't mean it is not a factor in our play- it absolutely 100% is a big factor...

 

[Drake744]

I don't want to sound like I have a defeatist attitude but I think the travel is a legitimate reason why we've begun to look flat and sloppy a lot. As we all know now, our miles travelled is more than double any other team. Yes that sucks. Yes on top of that we basically played two games on Thursday/Friday and flew across the country again to play Saturday. Yes we did it to ourselves by finishing in a wild card spot. Yes San Jose is doing it too but only during this series. It is what it is. They're a solid team who is fresher than we are and it shows. They made quick work of LA in 5 games and got to rest for awhile after a series where they didn't travel much anyway. They came into this series rested and we came in jet-lagged and playing off adrenaline and crowd noise. That trend continues throughout the series and it's getting worse as it goes on.

The same thing happened in 2011 (no wild cards) when we were travelling to and from Anaheim then having to go to and from Vancouver. It's unfortunate that this is the situation we've found ourselves in but dammit I'm proud of what the guys have done so far. We can't even fathom the physical and mental exhaustion they're playing through. Hell, Johansen and Forsberg couldn't even get their legs over the boards in a triple-OT celebration. But still they fight, don't give up, and even with all the things going against them, they still find themselves with the opportunity to force yet another dreaded flight back to California where anything can happen. Again.

 

[drwpreds]

Reminds me of all speed no finish Stalberg. Just my two cents.

Can we at least give him a full NHL season before we label him or give up on him?

I will repeat- man, this is a tough crowd

 

[adsfan]

Can we at least give him a full NHL season before we label him or give up on him?

I will repeat- man, this is a tough crowd

I agree.

Arvy had 25 goals and 15 assists in 74 Milwaukee games. I appreciate that AHL stats don't count for a bucket of warm spit in the NHL. In my experience, you cut the numbers in half for a first NHL season. The third season in the NHL, the numbers are close or the player is gone.

The fact that Arvy scored 25 goals, shows that he can finish. Nashville has generally been a goal deprived team. I will take 12 goals with some upside in the future.

If you keep yanking out the shoots and roots, you won't have any garden.

 

[golfmade]

Was at work so couldn't see the game, that said, sigh... Just learn from this game what can be learned and otherwise just forget about it and focus on game six. I am so sick of losing to the Sharks in the playoffs, let's take this one to seven!

 

[bdub24]

Can't even respond to people that want Arvy out. Because these are some of the same people that defend Ellis. How good did he look at first? He was small, not quick...but with experience he got smart. While I still believe size matters on defense, Arvy will get smarter as he gets experience, and he will get more core strength working with the trainers.

 

[preds1]

It's difficult when we only have one line we can depend on.

 

[BonMorrison]

I have little confidence for Monday with our Game 6 history. But hey, we've been changing history left and right this year - lets do it again.

 

[ThirdManIn]

I'm 6-1-0 when I post "just ****ing win" in a playoff GDT. My 6 game streak ended last night. That raises a question: do I post it in the next GDT, or do I consider it spent-mojo?

 

[EXTRAS]

How has ekholm been playing these playoffs in comparison to josi/weber?

 

[Adz]

I'm 6-1-0 when I post "just ****ing win" in a playoff GDT. My 6 game streak ended last night. That raises a question: do I post it in the next GDT, or do I consider it spent-mojo?

Only you can decide that.

Mojo is weird.


Well, I was disappointed last night, but not completely surprised. I hoped for a win, but kind of expected a loss--just not quite so thorough of one. That goal right after Fisher's just deflated them. I expect a better game--and outcome--on Monday, even if we have to will it again.

 

[BonMorrison]

How has ekholm been playing these playoffs in comparison to josi/weber?

Other than last night, he's quite easily been the best D.

 

[Enoch]

Other than last night, he's quite easily been the best D.

I disagree. He has had ideal matchups and deployment. He has been very good, but he has made plenty of mistakes. He has clearly evolved his game this year and in the playoffs, developing into a legitimate #2-#3 defenseman. That said, he is still definitely behind Weber/Josi.

 

[Enjoy i24 Traffic]

They had every chance to improve there regular season standing to improve there schedule in the offseason. They blew too many of those games and limped into the playoffs. When your a wildcard you take whatever you can get and had better hit the floor running. It is not a conspiracy from the league against wildcard teams but the other teams who had better records get the nod when it comes to scheduling. We all know this so why is this even discussed. The Preds for the first time came out as the lower seed and beat there opponent in the first round. If they want to advance they need to do the same thing and it will be another game 7 to do it looks like.

what part of nashville do you live in?