Pre-Game Talk: Pregame Round 2 game 2 thread.

VAcaniac

SHOOT THE PUCK
Feb 16, 2007
9,628
24,693
Los Angeles
Spent my night reading through the December GDTs which are hilarious. This post pretty much spoke for me after December:

Shall not be named said:
For the first time in my life I’m considering taking a step back from being a Canes/hockey fan.

I probably won’t. But it’s just sunk time and apathy at this point. 10 years is a long time for literally zero payout. The fact that it’s even crossing my mind tells you where I’m at with this team. Svech and Aho are really the only reasons for hope.

This guy was prophetic:

Nostradamus said:
The canes hit crossbars, roll pucks wide, get robbed on goal line. Detroit throws a harmless wrister on net, deflects off two canes top shelf.

I know nobody believes it, but this is going to even out eventually. They aren’t accurate enough shooters to avoid the areas where the puck would go in at this rate forever.
 
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Hinterland

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Sep 29, 2016
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They played very well the whole season though. Even under Peters they were, at times, pretty close and played well for at least extended stretches. Just took a while for it all to come together and for the players to actually believe they can do it. That probably came with Rod when he took over.
 

Hinterland

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Sep 29, 2016
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The Islanders don't have the Caps firepower, so they're not as "scary." Don't get me wrong, they're just as good. The difference over 82 games this season from Washington (104 points) to the Islanders (103) was (obviously) one point. But we had 99, so there's really not much difference between all three teams. But between the Caps' status as defending champ and their elite-level scorers, there was a different vibe surrounding them.

When the Caps beat you, it's like getting shot at close range. When the Islanders beat you, it's like getting nibbled to death by ducks.

Didn't think I'd say this but the Isles are obviously the much better team than the Caps. As we've seen you can however, with a bit of luck, get away with stupid turnovers. Caps are experienced enough to punish you for almost every mistake.
I'd claim that the Caps would have allowed more than just one goal in that game though. They wouldn't have been as up to speed as the Isles.
 

MrazeksVengeance

VENGEANCE
Feb 27, 2018
7,040
26,672
SAME!

Honestly, and I mean this sincerely, I'm still not over Game 7 lol! This is all like some weird wonderland I've stumbled into...all gravy.

First of all, this team has already exceeded my wish for the season. I posted earlier that if they managed to come back and beat the Caps that would be like my Super bowl. And it was. one of my top sports memories, even counting quite a few championships I've been blessed to see.

Second, I have so much confidence in the resilience of this team. All I ever wanted was ideally a split of the first two games and even if we went down 0-2 again after the last series I wouldn't have panicked.

We have an actual chance of going back to Raleigh up 2-0! that is INSANE to me. I'm just so happy and proud of this team. Truly on cloud 900!

Some say Vengeance cannot bring you peace. Some people are wrong.
 

Borsig

PoKechetkov
Nov 3, 2007
4,435
8,418
Low country coast
The isles are better defensively.

Of the chances they had Friday, Ovie, Backstrom, Oshie, etc would have buried at least half of them, and they score on the PP in about 1 in 3. The Isles PP has been abysmal, but not quite as abysmal as ours, up to this point. Lehner is the anchor of that team, and keeping us out of the back of the net, hasn't been that hard since Aho and Nino cooled off, and with Svech out.

Because the team is a defensive team, they appear to be that much tougher. Maybe they are. But the caps have been a greater scoring threat. If they caps held us to 1 goal per game, we'd be golfing. Or, lifting weights if you're Rod.

Who knows how this thing goes, but I don't think the isles are that much better than the caps, they're different. The one thing that concerns me, matching up with us, is our lack of powerhouse offense to combat the isles D and goaltending.

This *might* be the most evenly matched series so far.

The reason we were all gut nervous against the caps is their scoring threats. The isles , have some of that talent but not the big names. Their scoring players are often overlooked. Which does in fact, make them more dangerous.

Lehner's "shit bounce" comment makes me think they see themselves as the superior team. Maybe they underesitmate us, which is good. Maybe they're pissed and come out swinging hard, which is bad.
 

emptyNedder

Not seeking rents
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Jan 17, 2018
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Spent my night reading through the December GDTs which are hilarious. This post pretty much spoke for me after December:



This guy was prophetic:

I was at the Dec. 23 game against the Bruins with my son. The Canes were down 2-0 early and looked overmatched. Then Teravainen scored by hitting a Bruins D-man and having the puck deflect past the goalie. The Bruins went on a power play at the end of the first period. I turned to my son and said something like "If the Canes can get a shorty, then the hockey gods have finally changed their minds."

Sure that was the game RBA put Svechnikov with Aho and TT. Also the first game Aho and TT killed penalties. But I am pretty sure it was the game the "fortunes" of the season changed. To start the new year the Canes won 2 games with goals off defenders (both Buffalo and finally NYI). For three seasons that was happening to the Canes but never for them.
 

BladeRunner66

Two-Headed Jerk
Oct 23, 2017
1,164
747
1000 posts! Thanks for all the likes folks, that pushed me over 50% Woah the love sure is flowing here, i guess that's what winning do to a fan base, especially when they deserved better and it finally happens. In comparison you can hear crickets at times on the Pens board, we were spoiled for a long time and that sweep against the Isles had us calling for a lot of heads rolling.

Isles stopped our offense, made our team unsure zombies trying to follow a broken system. You won with one goal lol but that was enough with your better D. Eberle killed us and Canes look like they can control that beast who had 9g in 11GP before you won. 3 more to go and hopefully Jackets & Bruins go on destroying each other in OT in the meanwhile.

@ MrazeksVengeance, i noticed you're not using caps lock here... :laugh:
 

MrazeksVengeance

VENGEANCE
Feb 27, 2018
7,040
26,672
1000 posts! Thanks for all the likes folks, that pushed me over 50% Woah the love sure is flowing here, i guess that's what winning do to a fan base, especially when they deserved better and it finally happens. In comparison you can hear crickets at times on the Pens board, we were spoiled for a long time and that sweep against the Isles had us calling for a lot of heads rolling.

Isles stopped our offense, made our team unsure zombies trying to follow a broken system. You won with one goal lol but that was enough with your better D. Eberle killed us and Canes look like they can control that beast who had 9g in 11GP before you won. 3 more to go and hopefully Jackets & Bruins go on destroying each other in OT in the meanwhile.

@ MrazeksVengeance, i noticed you're not using caps lock here... :laugh:

I don’t use caps (Ugh, Caps). I use Shift.

Also, look at the Shed. I am using big letters when it serves purpose.
 

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