Preds @ Sens

[NyQuil]

On topic though, I am immensely happy with having Chiasson and Zibanejad in the fold.

Both guys can be tough to play against around the opposing net.

We had some speed and skill in the prospect pool in Pageau, Da Costa, Puempel, Hoffman and Stone but now we also have some net-driving players with good potential as well to round it out a bit more.

I think Zibanejad is trying to be responsible defensively and it's resulted in him being a little more hesitant to dictate play.

Part of the issue is the coach's traditional perspective of sitting guys if they mess up so it leads to a certain degree of risk-aversion by younger players.

Still, Condra's not playing every game so I'll give Paulrus that.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

You're just happy because I sent you that Heritage toque.

It might get worn Monday st the game vs. Detroit. It's suppose to be 50 outside though so it's a game time decision.

 

[NyQuil]

It might get worn Monday st the game vs. Detroit. It's suppose to be 50 outside though so it's a game time decision.

You're my ambassador of Sensanity, PS.

 

[Micklebot]

NyQuil should get his own personal thread that we can all look at for his commentary. I don't need anything else really I'm a follower of his teachings.

When I find myself in need of guidance, I just use the "find more posts by Nyquil" feature, and bask in the knowledge.

That, or just surf ask.com, both have their merits.

 

[The Waffler]

It might get worn Monday st the game vs. Detroit. It's suppose to be 50 outside though so it's a game time decision.

I wouldn't wear a toque when it's 50 out. You're crazy man, you're craaaaazy.

 

[The Waffler]

or else what ahah

or else he would still be living in the fear of being wrong.

 

[Xspyrit]

Defense is not the problem. Offense is.

They do score goals but they miss the net on glorious attempts or screw up a lot of 2 on 1 or PPs because they refuse to keep it simple.

Scoring is really great when you want to build up momentum, and putting the other team in a hole is key too (game could have easily been 4-1, 5-1 or 6-1), it can break up the energy of the other team. Sens need to have more killer instinct.

Defensively, Karlsson is dangerous often with his turnovers (but his game is risky, that's his style), Phillips is being asked too much and should be on a 3rd pairing but Cowen and Ceci is a thing of beauty. Boro and Gryba are really adequate on the 3rd pairing. But yes they miss Methot, particularly Karlsson

Again Latendresse was explaining on TVA how the turnovers are most of the time provoked by the player not having many or any "options". Forwards were too far yesterday (no adequate gap for breakout). It reminded me a bit of last season. I'm sure coaching staff is already working on that with them.

Our division is pretty damn competitive

Once I realized this I made a conscious decision to stop paying attention to other teams

Sens aren't at the same stage of development and the money invested is also not in the same ballpark.

We have to strike a great UFA at some point because it's a disadvantage compared to many other teams, we need to get "free players" too. Okay Gonchar and MacArthur were great signings and Legwand is going to be good enough, but we need that more often.

Ironic much?

Lehner was the main reason we won.

I'm just criticizing, never said it was illegal to do that. But I'm not bashing or swearing at people, I'm not crying like a 12 years old girl, I'm not parannoying, I'm not over-reacting, I'm not typing like a robot, etc... I know there's many people who really understand what I'm talking about. Try to tell me with a straight face that GDTs are a place for adults in control of their emotions. Heck people see Lazar not in the line-up and right away (before knowing reality) it is "is Paul MacLean full of dementia?". You don't find that ridiculous? Well, I do.

Anyway Lehner played well enough to win the game but he wasn't perfect... It's hard to win in the NHL if your goalie doesn't have a STRONG game. He got a bit lucky too IMO, Preds lacked finished and his D-men did a good job once again at clearing second chances (that's KEY). He was a bit flip-flopping and give up dangerous rebounds. That's what he has to improve, need more composure and better rebound control if he wants to establish himself among the best (IMO he can be a top-10 maybe even top-5 goalie)

Lines are a bit "out of synch" and chemistry is far from optimal. Coaching staff are still trying things out but we'll need more stability at some point to improve possession and neutral zone play

 

[NyQuil]

You're crazy man, you're craaaaazy.

I like you.

But you're crazy.

 

[Xspyrit]

While the first period sucked, i honestly don't think the shot count was that bad until the 3rd period started. Now i don't really remember, but i don't really think there was a great difference in shot count between the teams after the 2nd period.

The 3rd period is when the Sens really started to give up a lot of shots. This has to do with just sitting on the breaks and holding on for dear life, which is what the Sens were pretty much doing in the third in my opinion.

Exactly and this is a sign of a young inexperienced team scared to make mistakes. Contenders will try to dictate the play and keep possession. Not surprised Sens are not there yet.

I bet you every win we have this season our goalie. was the #1 star of the game, we need a new defensive system coz this one is broken.

5-3 win over Colorado, no goalie among the stars

http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564025

3-2 win over Columbus, Lehner 2nd star

http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564026

3-1 win over Detroit, Anderson 2nd star

http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564031

4-3 win over Edmonton, Anderson 3rd star

http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564035

So that's a false statement in 4 of the 9 wins.

Do the same exercise for other teams, you might be surprised on how often the winning goalie is among the 3 stars of the game...

The Habs have 15 wins

Price has been :

1st star in 4 wins
2nd star in 2 wins
3rd star in 1 win

Tokarski has been :

1st star in 2 wins
3rd star in 1 win

Their goalies got a star in 10 of 15 games (1st star in 6) and they have the 2nd best record in the league. Their offense has been great in other wins and in general, despite being shutout 3 times. Sens haven't been shutout but they don't score 4 goals or more very often (3 times vs 8 times for the Habs)

Offense has to be to relieve some pressure off goalies. Basically, Sens would need to put together MacArthur-Turris-Ryan who need to produce more, a bit like last year.

Chiasson had a really good game. Goal and so many smart little plays. He knows where to always be.

It's rare when I look and Chiasson and feel disappointed with one of his plays... It happened though in the 3rd on the PP. Tried a fancy between-the-legs pass that became a scoring chance for the Preds. Alex, you're not Spezza. Great player though.

Karlsson was really good last night .. even though we were gettign steamrolled in the third he was still making some really nice plays... he wasnt hesitating to get the puck out.. if he had to he was just getting off the boards.. for most of the season he has hesitated and held onto it for waaayy tooo long looking for the perfect pass, cant do that in your own zone...

In the NHL, it's called "sitting on a lead". They were waiting for their chances and it really work but missed a few 2 on 1 and a PP with fancy plays.

I agree: sit Phillips. Borowiecki brings physicality to the team and plays a decent defence containment game.

I expect more from Legwand for $3M and Michalek for $4M than they are currently contributing.

We all see the game differently but in my viewings, Michalek has been great lately. Got rewarded yesterday for the great pass on the winning goal. Hopefully the lines get more stability and chemistry going forward

Legwand has been fine for the role he plays but he's a guy we could get more from. But maybe they signed him to make him a shutdown center only. And it's logic since he is a stop gap and Zibanejad/Lazar are the future.

MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Michalek-Legwand-Chiasson
Hoffman-Lazar-Stone
Greening-Zibanejad-Neil
Condra

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Again Latendresse was explaining on TVA how the turnovers are most of the time provoked by the player not having many or any "options". Forwards were too far yesterday (no adequate gap for breakout). It reminded me a bit of last season. I'm sure coaching staff is already working on that with them.

It was particularly and painfully obvious last night

Shades of last year was a great way of putting it

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Karlsson looked phenomenal in the 2nd


Chiasson was bad in the 3rd. I'm starting to notice all his miscues and missed assignments in the D zone and had a couple of bad giveaways in the offensive zone. Skilled player, but man not responsible defensively

I think part of the 'problem' with Chaisson is a combination of being an average skater and being tasked with being the guy parked in front of the opposition net. He has a long way to go to get back into position in the defensive zone.

Kind of a hard position...we need someone willing to park in front of the net, but that will leave his defensive spot vulnerable for an extra few seconds on a turnover.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Exactly and this is a sign of a young inexperienced team scared to make mistakes. Contenders will try to dictate the play and keep possession. Not surprised Sens are not there yet.



5-3 win over Colorado, no goalie among the stars

http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564025

3-2 win over Columbus, Lehner 2nd star

http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564026

3-1 win over Detroit, Anderson 2nd star

http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564031

4-3 win over Edmonton, Anderson 3rd star

http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400564035

So that's a false statement in 4 of the 9 wins.

Do the same exercise for other teams, you might be surprised on how often the winning goalie is among the 3 stars of the game...

The Habs have 15 wins

Price has been :

1st star in 4 wins
2nd star in 2 wins
3rd star in 1 win

Tokarski has been :

1st star in 2 wins
3rd star in 1 win

Their goalies got a star in 10 of 15 games (1st star in 6) and they have the 2nd best record in the league. Their offense has been great in other wins and in general, despite being shutout 3 times. Sens haven't been shutout but they don't score 4 goals or more very often (3 times vs 8 times for the Habs)

Offense has to be to relieve some pressure off goalies. Basically, Sens would need to put together MacArthur-Turris-Ryan who need to produce more, a bit like last year.



It's rare when I look and Chiasson and feel disappointed with one of his plays... It happened though in the 3rd on the PP. Tried a fancy between-the-legs pass that became a scoring chance for the Preds. Alex, you're not Spezza. Great player though.



In the NHL, it's called "sitting on a lead". They were waiting for their chances and it really work but missed a few 2 on 1 and a PP with fancy plays.



We all see the game differently but in my viewings, Michalek has been great lately. Got rewarded yesterday for the great pass on the winning goal. Hopefully the lines get more stability and chemistry going forward

Legwand has been fine for the role he plays but he's a guy we could get more from. But maybe they signed him to make him a shutdown center only. And it's logic since he is a stop gap and Zibanejad/Lazar are the future.

MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Michalek-Legwand-Chiasson
Hoffman-Lazar-Stone
Greening-Zibanejad-Neil
Condra

So having Nashville skate around us like pylons was actually part of the plan?! So in all the other games when were getting out played .. Are we actually secretly outplaying the other team? All part of the strategy? I highly doubt that absorbing that much pressure was ideal for anyone. Coaches nor players.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Lol.

You were convinced that he was done. You haven't said anything nice about him in a year in a half and have been adamant that he needs to be traded.

But he's playing good now, so yeah, good thing you never have up on him.

Lol.

I've actually been one of the biggest supporters.

A simple search of my posts 3 months ago+ includes the following:

Cowen thread:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/search.php?searchid=29520125

I still believe in Cowen.

*Puts on flame suit*

That's not my point. At least pick your moments. I believe Cowen has excellent offensive potential for a guy who can be solid defensively. 40+ points in his prime and I even went as far as saying Cowen could be dark horse Norris winner.

Lol, he tries to do too much sometimes.

He's 22 and he has shown brilliant flashes. I ain't worried.

I've always been HUGE Cowen supporter. Went as far as saying he could win a Norris in his career.

Although the one thing I'm very disappointed in seeing... is his lack of intensity. When he first broke into the league, you could see the fire in his stomach to generate something on the ice to help the team. But this year he'll go from shutting down Ovechkin to getting out-muscled by Gerbe or whoever in crucial part of the game time and time again.

I have no worries it's just inexperience. He's trying to play excellent defensively while rounding up his game.

I've seen similar roadbumps in Turris last year. When Cowen reaches his comfort zone, we'll see a beast surface.

Man, watching Cowen sometimes, when he wants to play physical, the guy could throw a 250 pound guy to the ice like a ragdoll. He has such impeccable raw strength which he rarely uses.

As he gains more confidence and experience, look for him to be an unstoppable force physically.

With that being said, I question his IQ and its ability to prevent him from becoming a great defender but then again he has looked smarter at times so it's probably just incosistencies.

Cowen. I remember when people thought Hedman busted. Same situation as Cowen.

Cowen can completely take over a game and dominate. I don't think there are as much physically imposing players as Cowen(when he tries) I recall earlier this year he threw Phaneuf to the ice with one hand while in a standstill.

I still think Cowen can be a top tier defender in this league. Although sometimes his IQ makes me think I'm wrong.

Then again, I remember same thing with Turris last year. He looked so stupid in certain situations but with confidence and experience, his ability took off.

Komisarek is a conservative ceiling for Cowen.

Cowen has 15 points in 68 games +0 and 214 hits in a HORRIBLE year. That's actually amazing in a way, lol.

Like Derriko said, when Cowen played in the AHL a year ago, albeit it was only 3 games, it was some of the most dominant play I've seen in the A.

He was Chara for Bingo. Would destroy anything, ran the PP, ran the PK, opposing team couldn't score on him when he was on the ice, his reach was amazing. I couldn't wait to see Cowen again.

Though Wiercioch last year was one of the best defenders in the A too, Cowen was on a different level, imo.

Both can be great.

Are you honestly comparing Cowen vs Josi? Especially last year? Weber was playing with a bonafide top pairing defender. Karlsson was playing with number 5/6 especially coming off major injury too.

Cowen has great promise but he played terribly last year.

If Karlsson is 100% and Cowen gets back to form, our defense will be very good. Two huge ifs but very very possible.

The only time I was ever "adamant about him being traded" is if we trade him for a top player like O'Reilly and Kane

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=87690141&postcount=601

Anything else you wanna pull out your ass? Dkm.

I normally don't go into this much detail but you literally accused me of something I was the opposite off, lmao, you can't be more wrong and say something with lower iq.

 

[Ice-Tray]

So having Nashville skate around us like pylons was actually part of the plan?! So in all the other games when were getting out played .. Are we actually secretly outplaying the other team? All part of the strategy? I highly doubt that absorbing that much pressure was ideal for anyone. Coaches nor players.

Well good teams tend to play well, and Nash played well, but we also dictated the play often during the game, esp[ecially the second period as a whole.

Scoring does nasty things to the minds of the opposition, including, but not exclusive to making them take more chances. We should have scored at least one, or two, more goals on our glorious chances to put them out of reach. (Turris!!!)

Scoring can be the best medicine when trying to kill the desire to win, not smothering D. Both would be perfecto.

In truth, I imagine that our D will continue to develop along with our scoring, and then we'll have the triple threat!

 

[The Waffler]

Lol.

I've actually been one of the biggest supporters.

A simple search of my posts 3 months ago+ includes the following:

Cowen thread:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/search.php?searchid=29520125




















The only time I was ever "adamant about him being traded" is if we trade him for a top player like O'Reilly and Kane

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=87690141&postcount=601

Anything else you wanna pull out your ass? Dkm.

I normally don't go into this much detail but you literally accused me of something I was the opposite off, lmao, you can't be more wrong and say something with lower iq.

kk ..

 

[Xspyrit]

It was particularly and painfully obvious last night

Shades of last year was a great way of putting it

"bad habits" of last year are not habits so far this year so it's positive. But they have to adjust fast when it happens.

So having Nashville skate around us like pylons was actually part of the plan?! So in all the other games when were getting out played .. Are we actually secretly outplaying the other team? All part of the strategy? I highly doubt that absorbing that much pressure was ideal for anyone. Coaches nor players.

It happens VERY often in the NHL. Teams with a comfortable lead after 2 periods tend to get outshot in the 3rd period. Of course, Sens can improve their "sit on a lead" ways... But they're a young inexperienced team without top-tier star forwards who could put more pressure on offense... So.. what's surprising?