GDT: OPENING NIGHT IN SMASHVILLE: 2015-10-08 Canes v. Preds

[Armourboy]

Refs failing tonight lol

 

[BonMorrison]

3rd period Preds are back.

 

[Soundgarden]

There goes the first shutout of the season.

 

[Cashville]

How ****ing bad are these linesmen tonight? That was 100% not offsides. Earlier we had a false icing. Then we had a second false icing for the Canes.

 

[Armourboy]

Son of a

 

[INDhockeyfan]

Dam it off of Weber's skate

 

[Enoch]

Unreal

 

[Cashville]

And god damn it

 

[AintLifeGrand]

Havent been impressed with this team at all tonight

 

[jwhouk]

Okay, who said the S word?

 

[Armourboy]

Exhale.

 

[INDhockeyfan]

Wasn't pretty at the end but it is a win.

 

[BonMorrison]

Just like last season.

Awesome first period and then just go into a shell.

I'll take the win but not exactly inspiring stuff there.

 

[jwhouk]

Hands go UP!

 

[TootooTrain]

1st period aside it wasn't pretty. Not liking the lack of composure in the 3rd there. Still...2 points.

 

[Armourboy]

Too many turnovers, definitely some work to do.

 

[GeauxPreds]

Well. A wins a win. Shame a deflection cost Rinne the shutout and its a shame the preds stopped playing after the first but it didn't cost us this time.

 

[jwhouk]

This just in: Preds now lead the Central Division.

 

[Soundgarden]

Viktor Arvridsson looks scared out of his mind. "He just makes saves that doesn't even exist."

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

I'll take it. First line looks great. Rinne looked good after a scary preseason. Top pairing looking great. Won.

Go Preds!

 

[Montross]

Too many turnovers, definitely some work to do.

Two points I will take. Jones played a nice game. But you cannot let bad teams take over games like the Canes did. Lots of work still to do.

 

[jwhouk]

As long as we don't go on another oh-for-ARE-YOU-KIDDING-ME streak on the power play, I'll be happy with 2-1 wins.

 

[drwpreds]

Definitely ugly after the first period but as others are saying, a W is a W. I really think (hope) it was coming out so pumped up we used up our energy and had a hard time turning it back on again.

Thought Seth looked great- hopefully a sign of things to come.

And I hate that stupid fluke goal we gave up. We had horrible luck last year on those kind of goals- I hope that is not going to continue this year...

 

[Scoresberg]

There is still something that bugs me about that 3rd line. There was a lot of speed but not much sense. Arvidsson-Hodgson-Jarnkrok is far from Stanley Cup champion's third line.

 

[mikemcburn]

Yeah, 2pts is always good, but I'm scared.

First period temp was sweet, and the first goal was good. But after that...

The second goal from the 3rd line turned out to be rather flukey (two close-quarter deflections, the goal in off a belly?), so nuttin' to really say the trio was or can click. Add on that they had an artificially higher ozone start %, were often doing more chasing than hunting, at least twice got stuck in their dzone for scarey stretches, accounted for only 3 shots (0/Jarnrork,1/Hodgson,2Arvidsson), and did all of that nuttin' with the meager ~10mins of ES ice time they were trusted with and... Well, I'm not even cautiously optimistic.

Then there was the 2nd line which appeared more dominant, sure, but also got trapped in their zone too much, Fisher's faceoff% actually worse than Hodgson's, and their combined corsi differential at ES actually a slug -1 worse than the 3rd line's too? AND this trio has actually played together before? They're the 2nd PP unit?

Which brings me to the PP... I mean, it wasn't bad, generated chances, sure, but I'm not referring to that last PP in the 3rd where they might have tried to close the deal and couldn't even seem to set up. Scary.

Also, I genuinely hope tonight wasn't an indicator of what to expect from Fisher (25%) and Riberio (21%) in the face-off area? When both a team's 1c & 2c lead the way in being *that* ugly in the dot... Well, just ouch.

All in, I really really liked my intro game to -

- the 1st line (lottsa pace, clicking, moves, generating chances, puck stealing, etc.)

- Fisher's physical game (if he didn't lead in hits then I've really missed something, sure seemed like he was everywhere in the ozone)

- Rinne's calm solid style (well, except when he scared me with all that puck handling - is that normal?)

- a whole solid d corps in general, but maybe especially Jones and Weber.

- the energy and soundness of the 4th line which really seemed to know and to do its job

Otherwise though, I'm scared. Really scared.