Observations, Part X

[Pred303]

I still wonder if Jackman wasn't sit longer at least partially due to allowing him more time to recover from his mystery injury. and maybe less due to us just wanting to give Granberg time over him. We won't ever know I'm sure.

 

[drwpreds]

Just to follow up on the posts above about our 3 on 3 performance masking how good a team we are. Below are the top 10 team records in the league in REGULATION results. No OT or shootout results- just regulation. We are just a game and a half from having 2nd best record in league.

1. Washington 40-14 .741
2. Dallas 34-21 .618
3. Anaheim 33-22 .600
4. NYR 33-23 .589
5. Nashville 32-22 .593
5. Florida 32-22 .593
7. Los Angeles 30-22 .577
7. NYI 30-22 .577
9. St Louis 29-22 .569
10. Chicago 31-24 .564

 

[NSH615]

Interesting note.

 

[David Singleton]

Just to follow up on the posts above about our 3 on 3 performance masking how good a team we are. Below are the top 10 team records in the league in REGULATION results. No OT or shootout results- just regulation. We are just a game and a half from having 2nd best record in league.

1. Washington 40-14 .741
2. Dallas 34-21 .618
3. Anaheim 33-22 .600
4. NYR 33-23 .589
5. Nashville 32-22 .593
5. Florida 32-22 .593
7. Los Angeles 30-22 .577
7. NYI 30-22 .577
9. St Louis 29-22 .569
10. Chicago 31-24 .564

What Trotzy has done with Washington this year, to this point, is amazing. Good for him.

 

[BigFatCat999]

I would normally be on screaming about how the Preds are 3 wins away from being at my 95% threshold for making the playoffs but then I watched the Isles v. Preds game and I honestly don't care. This is a cool collected playoff them and I don't fear the Central or the Pacific. Fact is, I look at any of the playoff teams and I fear none of them. This team when they are playing were not panicking, not forcing anything, not pushing the issue. Against one of the top teams in the east thee Preds made them look like a JV team. This team is going to make the playoffs. Question is who and how will they beat them?

 

[WartracePred]

I would normally be on screaming about how the Preds are 3 wins away from being at my 95% threshold for making the playoffs but then I watched the Isles v. Preds game and I honestly don't care. This is a cool collected playoff them and I don't fear the Central or the Pacific. Fact is, I look at any of the playoff teams and I fear none of them. This team when they are playing were not panicking, not forcing anything, not pushing the issue. Against one of the top teams in the east thee Preds made them look like a JV team. This team is going to make the playoffs. Question is who and how will they beat them?

When you have the luxury of playing Willy on the 4th line without any drop off in scoring on the top 2 lines, it says something about how this team is playing. In the past, he would be languishing on the 2nd or 3rd line creating a scoring vacuum.

 

[Cashville]

Still don't want LA, but I do think we can hang with anyone

 

[BigFatCat999]

Still don't want LA, but I do think we can hang with anyone

My biggest fear is Chicago but what a confidence boost that would be. You beat Chicago and every other team goes 'Oh bleep!'

 

[Adz]

My biggest fear is Chicago but what a confidence boost that would be. You beat Chicago and every other team goes 'Oh bleep!'

Personally, I would love to take on Chicago. I want to get that monkey off our backs. Of course, they turn it up a notch and they're experienced first round winners...but maybe, just maybe this is OUR year. If not, well, at least it wouldn't be a surprise.

 

[Paranoid Android]

Personally, I would love to take on Chicago. I want to get that monkey off our backs. Of course, they turn it up a notch and they're experienced first round winners...but maybe, just maybe this is OUR year. If not, well, at least it wouldn't be a surprise.

I remember saying the same exact thing about the Sharks in 2007.

 

[Adz]

I remember saying the same exact thing about the Sharks in 2007.

Yeah, me too. But then Vokoun got the pregnant woman disease (I know it has a technical name but that's how I think of it). Sigh. Had he been healthy I think we could have done it.

 

[Pred303]

getting back to last night's specifics before they get lost in tonights big game;

..of course johansen-neal-jarnkrok were solid last night, easy to note that
..but fisher I thought had a real solid game. he looks reenergized or healthy these past 10 odd games. and his improved overall play has helped us tremendously.
..Watson. at times I doubt his quickness and acceleration to be a good enough player. but he plays tough and is hardnosed defensively and on the wall. he made the play last night that resulted in his empty netter that put this one away. he's the one that deflected the pass that fisher corralled and got back to him. a well deserved empty netter for him.
..I'm sure Forsberg is still kicking himself over that empty netter miss. what a beautiful pass from ribeiro to set that up.
..other teams learn to hate salomaki by the end of the first period.
..first game this year we haven't taken a penalty. (thanks refs)
..man did we do a great job on the Tavares line all night. Almost all Weber-Josi
..The no special team play allowed us to roll all 4 lines all night. which maybe that helps in endurance in tonights game.
..thought Bitetto had a good game overall. really getting more aggressive in the offensive end.
...it's no coincidence that our defense scoring production has gone down as our forwards production has increased. or that we have allowed remarkably fewer goals since we quit asking them to take on so much in the offensive zone.
...I really like how our defensemen held the blueline all night. good gaps, good squeezes along the boards when they did get across.
..we didn't get a good look on two odd man rushes. one Forsberg tried to shoot instead of pass and then the neal to jarnkrok pass.
...arvidsson with his normal hustle game.
..probably the worst turnover we had all night was a pass from josi from the corner intercepted at the blueline.
...we did an excellent job of limiting turnovers.
...our forecheck was great all night. give credit to our forwards for really giving their d-men trouble. which in turn really slowed down their forwards.
...great save by them on the ellis backhand cutting into the low slot.
...rinne with an excellent stretch of his own there in the early second.
...it is amazing we basically eliminated all but one shot the last 18 minutes. that's great defense, because we were still pushing in our end.

There is nothing in sports more exciting than the last 5 minutes of a tied or one goal hockey game. You know anything thrown toward the net always has a chance to deflect in. You know the slightest mistake might lead to a goal. You know that even if one team has the puck on their stick and under control that you are still potentially only 5 seconds away from giving up a goal. You know that bad puck luck might change everything any second. When you throw in the pressure of a team pulling it's goalie those last two minutes or so sometimes you almost forget to breath. That's hockey my friends.

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

we did a really great job in the last 3 minutes of keeping possession of puck long enough to make Greiss stay in the cage too. Don't think he got off the ice until about 1:20 to go.

 

[triggrman]

The more I watch basketball, the more I love hockey

 

[Roman Yoshi]

The more I watch basketball, the more I love hockey

You watch basketball? You poor, brave soul.

Don't suppose Washington would be kind enough to give us a break and rest Holtby tonight eh?

 

[King Weber]

Predators most likely first round opponents as per Sportsclubstats.com:

DAL (33.6%)
LAK (21.7%)
CHI (20.1%)

 

[PredsV82]

What Trotzy has done with Washington this year, to this point, is amazing. Good for him.

Looking forward to seeing him win the Jack Adams. He deserved it here when he got the collection of garbage that was our team after the firesale back to the playoffs. But of course he was in Nashcille, so no dice

 

[triggrman]

You watch basketball? You poor, brave soul.

Don't suppose Washington would be kind enough to give us a break and rest Holtby tonight eh?

Only high school.

 

[Pred303]

in hockey, sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. can't obsess over this one too much, kuznetzov basically beat us by himself honestly.

..hutton really had no chance on 3 of their goals. the one from winnick at the end of the second though was the real dagger tonight. other than one shot he actually played as well as you can play while giving up four goals.
..we simply couldn't generate any offense. we couldn't keep the puck out of our end, we couldn't generate any puck possession, and we could get shots thru.

..johansen was flat out terrible. easily his worst game. turnovers, penalties. WSH speed gave him fits all night.
..Wilson looks totally lost. a guy with zero confidence right now. if anyone gets healthy we need to sit him a few games to see if he can get his head together.
..Smith and Granberg with an awful play to give them the lead. Smith wasn't very good all night.
..It's not so much that we played horribly, I think WSH just is that good.
..Our first line needs two things. a guy with speed that can carry the puck into the zone, and a guy who can go to the front of the net. We have a playmaker and passer (Johansen)2 shots a game, a great sniper (Neal) 3 shots a game.. but then another passer in Jarnkrok (1 shot per game). We really need both some speed and someone to go bang in Neal rebounds.

..Arvidsson played very hard as he always does. Now we need consistent production out of him if he's going to be a true contributor.
..Our fourth line could get the puck in but couldn't generate any shots. (1 shot total in 11 minutes)
..our defensemen broke down on goals 1,3,4. blown coverages everywhere.
..hell of a shot by Forsberg on the pp. really got my hopes up for a few minutes that we might steal this one.

this was a true team loss. every forward on the team was a -1 except salomaki (0), and johansen (-2). Among the d-men only ellis and Jackman didn't blown coverage and the other 4 were all -2's. You just have to write it off as a bad night against the best team in the league on the road and come out ready to play Monday. You better, since it's probably the second best team in the league. For those that want to think positive STL still has two games to play against WSH.

 

[Predsboro]

This just in .... the Washington Capitals are damn good at hockey.

 

[Adz]

Obviously we were masking our true skills, in case we meet them in the SC Finals.

Yeah, I'm kidding. They were outplayed by a longshot. Good job Trotz. Lavy has some work to do.

 

[Armourboy]

I think anyone taking this game as an an indication of anything is being foolish. Washington is the best hockey team in the NHL no doubt, but let's not act like it was anywhere close to an even playing field. On the road, back to back after playing a pretty physical Islanders team, with a back up goalie ( not that Pekka would have done much better).

 

[jwhouk]

The difference between the Predators and the Capitals is that one of the two teams has arguably the best player in the NHL on their club, and the other doesn't.

I am, of course, talking about Evgeni Kuznetsov...

 

[Predsboro]

The difference between the Predators and the Capitals is that one of the two teams has arguably the best player in the NHL on their club, and the other doesn't.

I am, of course, talking about Evgeni Kuznetsov...

Yeah .... they pretty much spanked us and Ovechkin was not a factor. An embarrassment of riches in the Nation's Capital ...

Anyone know what had Weber so angry after the first Winnik goal?

 

[jwhouk]

Yeah .... they pretty much spanked us and Ovechkin was not a factor. An embarrassment of riches in the Nation's Capital ...

Anyone know what had Weber so angry after the first Winnik goal?

I suspect it was basically because he got caught out of position on the bad line change?