Game Analysis: SERIES DISCUSSION: ADSF | Rangers vs. Canadiens Pt. 3 (MTL leads 2-1)

[Ail]

This.

A lock for the Hart, Richard, Ross, and Smythe.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

I'd be fine with Staal Holden if they were playing 15 mins tops a night.

Why we aren't going 27 mins with mcdonagh and 25 mins with Skjei is beyond me

I don't get it. The Hawks won their 2015 Cup while playing Keith, Seabrook, Hjarmalsson crazy minutes and the other 3 D men getting very small minutes. Quennville recognized that if he wanted to win, he couldn't deploy his D men equally as he had in the regular season, he needed to ride his horses and play the best players.

AV SHOULD be doing what Q did with McD, Skjei, Smith. He won't though.

There's a reason one of them has 3 cups and the other has none with 2 SCF losses with his biggest criticism both times being his failure to adjust.

 

[offdacrossbar]

this i what they are thinking about.

sadly.

 

[rangers1314]

I don't know what to make of Kreider-Zibanejad-(Glass and Buchnevich rotating)

Either that's the second line and Buchnevich is in or that's the 4th line and Glass is in. Probably the latter.

Buch played his best with those 2, so I hope he's in.

Its just all about the D and AV's horrific mismanagement there.

 

[JT Kreider]

Don't want to be a bummer, but seems AV has lost them

That's not a bummer. If we go one and done and AV gets the hook than it's the best possible thing for this team. I obviously never want them to lose but there is no doubt in my mind Pittsburgh is repeating. And not only repeating but they're going to dominate in doing so.

 

[Zil]

 

[Anthony5967]

The lines in practice today better be the lines they use in Game 4. If he reverts back to the same old tricks he is a thick headed clown. Buchnevich will save this series.

 

[JT Kreider]

Makes sense. The team that is out-hitting the other team is chasing the other team all game because they don't have the puck. If you don't have the puck you can't get hit.

 

[NickyFotiu]

They really just need to simplify the game to get their confidence back. Get all guys moving forward at the same time. Have at least 3 guys skating hard when they hit the redline and dump to the open corner. Than overload that defensemen. No one man only zone entries anymore. We have to keep hitting the zone with 3-4 guys moving hard at the same time since the Habs are standing up at the blue line. Go retrieve that puck with at least 2 men to 1 Habs Dman.

 

[offdacrossbar]

the worst part of this is we all know that if they beat us, the habs are probably getting swept in the next series.


AV needs to be gone.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

This chart is depressing. We missed our chance and now AV has full control and we keep getting worse and worse.




We were pretty freaking good during Marty St.Louis' tenure here.

 

[Maliks PlusMinus]

They really just need to simplify the game to get their confidence back. Get all guys moving forward at the same time. Have at least 3 guys skating hard when they hit the redline and dump to the open corner. Than overload that defensemen. No one man only zone entries anymore. We have to keep hitting the zone with 3-4 guys moving hard at the same time since the Habs are standing up at the blue line. Go retrieve that puck with at least 2 men to 1 Habs Dman.

Yep, it was constantly one forechecker going in, except from the 4th line who would sometimes go in as a group.

Kreider is playing very strangely. He almost appears to be watching the game most of the time. It's like I'm watching it from afar, he's watching it on the ice and the others are attempting to play. He seems surprised every time the puck comes to him and is gliding most of the time. I've been a big fan of his since he got here and ofc he has to play every playoff game, but at the moment I get the impression he barely knows what's going on

 

[Dr. Ogrodnick]

the worst part of this is we all know that if they beat us, the habs are probably getting swept in the next series.


AV needs to be gone.

Yup. This isn't like losing to the eventual cup champions.

 

[highandwide]

During the post game, AV shrugging off the reporter asking if he was using the physical game plan instead of the skill one they have been successful at... "that's just playoff hockey". How do you deny it? We are getting 60 hits a night and 20 shots.


I wonder in part if the attitude we are seeing with the team could be a disagreement with his management (i.e. turtling for 20 minutes protecting a 1 goal lead).

 

[ponytrekker]

The Potvin Sucks chant pissed me off.

For the first time me too. It was like "your team is being outhustked and had 12 shots in 40 minutes...maybe not now every 60 seconds".

 

[Crease]

Where are they going with this? Sure, you don't want to have outhit the other team. But you absolutely should be hitting guys when they have the puck.

 

[Maliks PlusMinus]

the worst part of this is we all know that if they beat us, the habs are probably getting swept in the next series.

AV needs to be gone.

Funny, I feel like the worst part is that the Sens and Bruins could easily be beaten by whoever progresses. Despite how terrible we are we have a chance of making the conference finals. The hawks and caps haven't started well... there's no reason why a lesser side couldn't win this year (if something goes wrong with the Pens, and it could) and the players last night seemed... as switched on as the Avs

 

[NickyFotiu]

Yep, it was constantly one forechecker going in, except from the 4th line who would sometimes go in as a group.

Kreider is playing very strangely. He almost appears to be watching the game most of the time. It's like I'm watching it from afar, he's watching it on the ice and the others are attempting to play. He seems surprised every time the puck comes to him and is gliding most of the time. I've been a big fan of his since he got here and ofc he has to play every playoff game, but at the moment I get the impression he barely knows what's going on

I'm one of CK's biggest fans but you are right. In one of the last two games he had a Hab player totally lined up for a hit and he did everything he could to avoid the Hab player. That is unlike him. He also is not flying straight ahead with speed or power. I would show him some clips of how he has been in the past to wake him up. Weber may be inside his head a bit. I think Weber against the Step line with Kreider/Zook was a big part of the Habs game plan. Petry has played really well also.

 

[ponytrekker]

Some random thoughts...

-Yesterday reminded me of our 2011-2012 Eastern Conference Final match up against the Devils. Where we simply didn't adapt to what a team was doing against us. That was a different coach who had a Stanley Cup on his resume and he refused to adjust our style to counter what the Devils were doing in the neutral zone. Watching our power play refuse to dump it into the corner even though the Hab's were lined up across the blue line preventing entry was maddening.

-In the playoffs you have to ride the guys who are playing well into the ground. Especially defenseman. The level between Brady Skjei and everyone else is so extreme right now I don't understand why he isn't logging 30 minutes a night. I don't care how old he is. The kid is stepping up and looks far and away the most composed of all our defense. Ride him.

-The guy I would rank after Skjei is Smith. Detroit fans were absolute correct when they said he raised his game when it came to the playoffs. Ride these two as much as humanely possible.

-As a team we are way to reliant on the pretty goal. The amount of over passing this team suffers from is troubling. Throw the puck at the net and get traffic in front. Watch every game in the playoffs and tell me the ratio of ugly goals to highlight reel goals. If we don't get traffic in front and start scoring ugly we aren't going anywhere.

-In terms of effectiveness within their expected role amongst our forwards I think Tanner Glass has been one of our best players. That is a troubling statement.

-On Montreal's first goal last night, Derek Stepan lost a face-off as cleanly as a human could lose a face-off. If you ever wonder how important it is having a guy who can win a defensive zone draw go back and watch that goal. That guy isn't and never will be Derek Stepan.

-Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad have all been varying degrees of hot garbage in the first 3 games. Krieder needs to get out of his own head and go back to what makes him successful.

-I've detailed my issues with Marc Staal in the thread dedicated to him. Until he improves his lateral movement and increases the speed with which he makes decisions in every single zone he will continue to be a detriment. The fact that him and Nick Holden were on the ice at the end of Game 2 was beyond understanding.

Well-put.

 

[Krams]

Makes sense. The team that is out-hitting the other team is chasing the other team all game because they don't have the puck. If you don't have the puck you can't get hit.

Exactly this. It is good to establish a forecheck and play the body, creates turnovers and leads to offensive zone time, but consistently out-hitting the opponent every period is usually an indicator that you don't have enough possession.

 

[JimmyG89]

Where are they going with this? Sure, you don't want to have outhit the other team. But you absolutely should be hitting guys when they have the puck.

They don't have the puck enough, that's where they are going with this. You do not hit when you have the puck. When you have the puck, you shoot more. They need to have the puck more.

 

[Siddi]

So you need puck posession in order to win? But I was told by this board we needed more tuffnuss....

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

More hits=probably less possession time

 

[Crease]

They don't have the puck enough, that's where they are going with this. You do not hit when you have the puck. When you have the puck, you shoot more. They need to have the puck more.

I agree with that. But they could have just pointed to shot totals to make that point. By framing it as "hitting correlates with bad results" I read it as condemning an important and effective element of the game. Like I said before, you don't want to have outhit the other team, but you absolutely should be hitting guys when they have the puck.

 

[Zil]

I agree with that. But they could have just pointed to shot totals to make that point. By framing it as "hitting correlates with bad results" I read it as condemning an important and effective element of the game.

It's a condemnation of AV worrying more about matching MTL's physicality than optimizing the Rangers' skill.