Observations XXIII

[bdub24]

The assistants need to go at the very least.

I'm 100% down with the ACs getting 100% turned over for sure. Useless and ineffective leaders. McCarthy seems to be just tone deaf as all get out (great planning on PP but just need execution) and Muse lacks credibility/time served. I mean, where'd he come from (Transylvania??)

 

[Roman Yoshi]

I only got to watch the third and OT but a few things stood out to me

Angry Smith lost his damn mind and almost cost us the game. Glad he redeemed himself with the GWG.

PK had his best game in a while. Ekholm. Not so much.

If Dallas adds one more quality D man, I'm not convinced their blue line isn't better than ours. Number 3, 4 and 23 are a three headed monster of skill and size.

Pekka made big saves when it mattered most.

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

Angry Smith lost his damn mind and almost cost us the game.

I disagree. I think it set the tone for the rest of the team. They easily killed off the penalty and it gave them a jump. At some point you have to punch back. Watch the Islanders. They aren't afraid to go to the box for face washing a Penguin.

 

[hockey diva]

I think Dallas's D is better than ours, much more mobile. We have to forecheck relentlessly if we are to get anywhere in this series. Once Dallas enters our zone, we get pinned in and it's hold your breathe time. We have struggled clearing the puck all season, must get better at this.

The poopy play continues to be poopy. The drop back pass that PK does, DOES NOT WORK! It needs to stop. I'd like Fabbro get a look on the pp instead of PK at this point.

A couple of dumb retaliation penalties almost cost us. This is supposed to be an experienced team. Play smart!

And Rocco showing why he needs to be in the lineup right now. Just a little motor running at full all the time.

 

[Soundgarden]

Ekholm had a bad game last night, although he did make a nice play against Benn when we needed him to.

Rocco better be getting some more minutes next game, one of the few who looked dangerous most shifts.

We really need to GET SOMEONE IN FRONT OF THE NET on the PP.

I've watched games of every other team besides Toronto/Boston and Winnipeg/St. Louis and no other team looks as suffocated as we do. Every other PP besides ours finds some space and we keep grinding it out on the perimeter.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I'll be very interested to see how the line matching goes once we get back to Dallas. That Benn-Seguin-Radulov line they've put together now is pretty potent, but it leaves very little offensive skill for the rest of their lines. If we can continue to hold that top line to one goal a game we should be able to keep winning.

 

[Aardvarksson]

I think Dallas's D is better than ours, much more mobile. We have to forecheck relentlessly if we are to get anywhere in this series. Once Dallas enters our zone, we get pinned in and it's hold your breathe time. We have struggled clearing the puck all season, must get better at this.

Preds' forecheck was damn effective though. Dallas struggled much more defensively than us in game 2. Corsica | Games

 

[Armourboy]

I disagree. I think it set the tone for the rest of the team. They easily killed off the penalty and it gave them a jump. At some point you have to punch back. Watch the Islanders. They aren't afraid to go to the box for face washing a Penguin.

Exactly. The whole team played with a fire after that. Like I said in the GDT, if I'm a team mate I have zero issue at all killing a penalty for you for something like that.

What it boiled down too is Dallas knew Boile and Simmonds were both out so they got a bit brave. Given that circumstance Smith's reaction were perfectly reasonable.

Just because the timing was late doesn't make it a bad penalty. Now if they had called the initial crosscheck and he negated a PP that would have been a dumb penalty.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

I disagree. I think it set the tone for the rest of the team. They easily killed off the penalty and it gave them a jump. At some point you have to punch back. Watch the Islanders. They aren't afraid to go to the box for face washing a Penguin.

Exactly. The whole team played with a fire after that. Like I said in the GDT, if I'm a team mate I have zero issue at all killing a penalty for you for something like that.

What it boiled down too is Dallas knew Boile and Simmonds were both out so they got a bit brave. Given that circumstance Smith's reaction were perfectly reasonable.

Just because the timing was late doesn't make it a bad penalty. Now if they had called the initial crosscheck and he negated a PP that would have been a dumb penalty.

I agree. How can anyone that didn't watch the whole game say that Smith was being selfish? You. Didn't. Watch. The. Game!

You also didn't see that little bitch running around any more the rest of the game. Smith put him in his place and I'm sure everyone got a chance to call him a turtle (or other colorful names) after that.

 

[Armourboy]

I'll be very interested to see how the line matching goes once we get back to Dallas. That Benn-Seguin-Radulov line they've put together now is pretty potent, but it leaves very little offensive skill for the rest of their lines. If we can continue to hold that top line to one goal a game we should be able to keep winning.

Dallas in a lot of ways reminds me of some of those Trotz teams. Play tight defense, good skill on the blue line, but really only have enough offensive talent to make one really good line. Frankly if the 2nd line and Turris can start doing something, and we get a bit of production from the 3rd and 4th, Dallas would have a hard time keeping pace. Basically I think it's a series because we have guys playing poorly.

It's also the reason I think Rocco had a big game with that limited time. They didn't have anyone that could keep up with him on those bottom pairings.

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

When will Game 5 puck drop be announced? Hoping for 6pm or later.

 

[Enoch]

Armour, they do play a tight system, but Benn-Seguin are star forwards. This gives them an edge.

Fantastic game by the Preds.

PK has been on fire. He is finding lanes and being creative. He has been our top player. He has done this consistently in the playoffs. The regular season was not what I expected, but Game 1/Game 2, he has been incredible.

Ekholm was victimized a bit in this game. He took some penalties, but the extra 2 minutes was just stupid. The officials had an agenda last night, they executed it, and it did not matter. I hope we get a different crew for game 3.

Rinne has only given up one goal thus far that could have been saved. Goal 2 in game 1 was savable, but it had its share of luck. He has otherwise been pretty stellar. He needs this confidence. It was good to see him get the home ice win after the last 4 playoff games at home...

The PP is what it is. It doesn't put bodies in front of the net. It grinds in the corners. It has weird break ins. It sucks. It is #31 for a reason.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Dallas in a lot of ways reminds me of some of those Trotz teams. Play tight defense, good skill on the blue line, but really only have enough offensive talent to make one really good line. Frankly if the 2nd line and Turris can start doing something, and we get a bit of production from the 3rd and 4th, Dallas would have a hard time keeping pace. Basically I think it's a series because we have guys playing poorly.

It's also the reason I think Rocco had a big game with that limited time. They didn't have anyone that could keep up with him on those bottom pairings.

We really just need production from the 1st line and we should be good if we keep up the defensive play.

 

[GeauxPreds1]

I think Dallas's D is better than ours, much more mobile. We have to forecheck relentlessly if we are to get anywhere in this series. Once Dallas enters our zone, we get pinned in and it's hold your breathe time. We have struggled clearing the puck all season, must get better at this.

The poopy play continues to be poopy. The drop back pass that PK does, DOES NOT WORK! It needs to stop. I'd like Fabbro get a look on the pp instead of PK at this point.

A couple of dumb retaliation penalties almost cost us. This is supposed to be an experienced team. Play smart!

And Rocco showing why he needs to be in the lineup right now. Just a little motor running at full all the time.

Pk has been our best defenseman in these playoffs and you want to put a rookie in his spot on a powerplay

 

[101st_fan]

A few things I would like to see for the next game. Boyle healthy and back in the lineup ... with Rocco. Simmonds scratched. Then motivate PK to stop the needless drop pass ... maybe for every time he does it he must wear a plain, gray suit to/from the games with no accouterments or flair.

 

[GeauxPreds1]

Dallas seems to play a game that plays defense and waits for their chances to score. They dont seem like a team that takes a lot of chances. I believe if we can some how take game 3, I see them feeling some pressure and taking more chances in game 4 which I think could play in our hand. Game 3 will be huge. Lets go take it

 

[FossilFndr]

.... Then motivate PK to stop the needless drop pass ... maybe for every time he does it he must wear a plain, gray suit to/from the games with no accouterments or flair.

I'm sure that it isn't PK's call, it's not like they practice something different then PK decides to change the play to drop it to the forwards who just happen to be behind him.

 

[101st_fan]

I'm sure that it isn't PK's call, it's not like they practice something different then PK decides to change the play to drop it to the forwards who just happen to be behind him.

I wish I could grasp the logic behind our PP this season. I would bet that Smith isn't the only one upset about it but until the coaching staff changes the entry .... as we've noticed here for six months.

 

[GoldOnGold]

I actually think the PP drop pass zone entry works pretty well, the real problem is that we insist on sending it behind the net where the enemy PK can easily intercept it

 

[nine_inch_fang]

I actually think the PP drop pass zone entry works pretty well, the real problem is that we insist on sending it behind the net where the enemy PK can easily intercept it

Correct. Even on a clean entry a majority of the time the puck is sent behind the net or to the other side of the ice around the boards and turns into a battle for possession. Having a player that control the puck on the half wall even while pressured would go a long way.

 

[RickP]

I actually think the PP drop pass zone entry works pretty well, the real problem is that we insist on sending it behind the net where the enemy PK can easily intercept it

Yeah, pretty much every fanbase complaining about their PP complain about the drop pass. But teams do it for a reason, it (kinda) works. Of course it's not perfect, but regular breakouts don't always work either. It's just that people notice it more when the drop pass fails. And when it's executed poorly, it looks silly. But it's an effective strategy overall. You just have to switch it up and I do think the Preds do that, but I would have to pay closer attention and track every PP breakout.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

My problem with the drop pass is that is seems to be mandatory instead of taking what the defense gives. The Preds drop the puck even when it is defended well and there are open lanes to skate the puck. They have been mixing it up more lately but still not enough to keep the defense guessing.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

i have my biggest issue with the inability to gain possession of the puck in the zone on the PP.

with our skill, we should be able to gain entry and set up our PP without ringing it around the boards. not sure if it's the strategy or what but we seem to lose a lot of puck battles while on the PP. puck battles are 2 on 2 instead of having that extra guy there to win the puck back.

ringing it around the boards and struggling to set up leads to losing 75% of our PP time. it has been a little better of late, at least from my view. still too much perimeter passing and it seems the point shot is still the go to. subban seems to be the only guy that can get the puck on net as well when we do revert back to the point in the series so far.

 

[RickP]

I just re-watched the PPs from last night's game, and I think having Granlund on the 1st unit really helped with the breakouts, since he's a lefty (and he's fast and skilled).

On all 3 PP opportunities, I only counted one time where the breakout failed, out of about 8-10 breakouts. The rest of the time, all the breakouts worked and they kept possession of the puck when entering the zone (no dump-ins). And I only counted 3 drop passes in total, and they worked every time.

So they may have found a good balance between the units. Both units have lefties and righties, able to skate with the puck and enter the zone. It gives more options and it's less predictable. They can afford to put Boyle back on one of the units if he's healthy, and it won't affect that balance much. (I assume Simmonds will be out for a little while, but I could be wrong.)

And with Granlund on the top unit, there was a couple of plays from behind the net, which was interesting. Nothing really convincing, but at least it was different.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Yeah, last night thet mixed up their zone entries.