Post-Game Talk: Sharks @ Sens

[Philadelphia Collins]

the 2nd line was not better than spezza tonight :s

I don't think MacArthur gets enough credit for what he does out there, the 2nd line really missed him

And the 1st line with Greening was

 

[pepty]

Sundin played with garbage his whole career and still soundly outscored Alfie. Sundin > Alfie all day long.

Too bad he didn't get to play with the likes of Todd White and Bryan Smolinski. just bums like Mogilny.

Now which team was it that had one of the biggest payrolls in the pre cap era and which one played on a shoestring ??

 

[HavlatMach9]

fml karlsson plays too much (29:29 tonight), takes a while to make a highlight, won't be nearly as good as the one vs Canes, and I'm not including any of Ek's mistakes, but it's looking good so far

It rates favorably even vs the pre-injury Karlsson, not as refined but as dazzling and even more than most of the 13 games.

So far my favorite plays are his masterclass handseye coordination using the shaft to stop a pass! and the other is maneuvering the puck around people while the puck is on end.

It should be live on youtube in a couple hours, hooray upload speed

 

[Tundraman]

Teams often have more success when the D activate late by coming in as the 4th man on the play only when they clearly control the zone and the other team's players are also driven deep. That way they can't get countered quickly. The way Karlsson plays he acts like he's a 4th forward. He often tries to be the lead man on the attack while the forwards are stopped and he either loses the puck, skates in and takes a no traffic shot or manages to get the puck in deep. In all cases the forwards are mostly flat footed. When EK tries to hold the opposing blue line when the puck isn't loose they just chip it by him so it forces a forward to back off otherwise it will always be an odd man rush when we lose the puck. That's counterproductive since most forwards can't play defense very well and they go into scramble mode not knowing who to pick up. Most of the other D are trying to imitate EK at various times and are getting caught too.

I wish Stache would revert his D (including Karlsson) to a more standard defensive posture and have them just concentrate on moving the puck up to the forwards. The D should never pinch when the 3 forwards are below the circles or when they are all skating in the direction of the opposing net. There is no reason for them to hold the opposing blue line when an opponent skates towards them and clearly has control of the puck. EK does this often and that's a big fail. I would tell the D (including Karlsson) they will be held accountable for odd man rushes if they don't follow orders. It's nice that EK pads his stats but that's not team play that's cocky selfish play.

Making guys peel back as though they had the lead when the score is close wouldn't hurt either. It would be nice to not give up an early deflating goal once in a while. It's much better when they don't allow odd man rushes and counter attack when the chances are there. Eventually our young D will gain experience and they can try some of the other fancy / risky moves that don't work now.

 

[simplefan]

Teams often have more success when the D activate late by coming in as the 4th man on the play only when they clearly control the zone and the other team's players are also driven deep. That way they can't get countered quickly. The way Karlsson plays he acts like he's a 4th forward. He often tries to be the lead man on the attack while the forwards are stopped and he either loses the puck, skates in and takes a no traffic shot or manages to get the puck in deep. In all cases the forwards are mostly flat footed. When EK tries to hold the opposing blue line when the puck isn't loose they just chip it by him so it forces a forward to back off otherwise it will always be an odd man rush when we lose the puck. That's counterproductive since most forwards can't play defense very well and they go into scramble mode not knowing who to pick up. Most of the other D are trying to imitate EK at various times and are getting caught too.

I wish Stache would revert his D (including Karlsson) to a more standard defensive posture and have them just concentrate on moving the puck up to the forwards. The D should never pinch when the 3 forwards are below the circles or when they are all skating in the direction of the opposing net. There is no reason for them to hold the opposing blue line when an opponent skates towards them and clearly has control of the puck. EK does this often and that's a big fail. I would tell the D (including Karlsson) they will be held accountable for odd man rushes if they don't follow orders. It's nice that EK pads his stats but that's not team play that's cocky selfish play.

Making guys peel back as though they had the lead when the score is close wouldn't hurt either. It would be nice to not give up an early deflating goal once in a while. It's much better when they don't allow odd man rushes and counter attack when the chances are there. Eventually our young D will gain experience and they can try some of the other fancy / risky moves that don't work now.

No.....don't blame Karlsson. The reason he does that is that nobody can sustain any pressure in the offensive zone. So Karlsson who has speed and puck control can do it, therefore he plays more of a rover style. If our forwards were more effective on the breakout and the forecheck, Karlsson would stay back more.
That style worked years before and still will, years to come.

If there's someone to blame, it's the forwards who are not defensively responsible and they dont offer puck support to the defensemen. The only game they did that was on the Detroit game.

Honestly, I kind of liked our team speed and puck possession game yesterday. It's coming slowly but surely.

 

[OttawaSenators11]

Karlsson with 9 shots on goal

Hopefully he keeps shooting the puck more.

 

[John Holmes*]

Well from the brief highlights I saw, Spezza let Pavelski go on his goal, but shockingly he was trying to play defense, he was just horribly lost.

The shorty where Karlsson gave up and let his man go was pretty sucktastic though.

Lazy mistakes are unacceptable to me.

 

[YNWA14]

Sundin was a better player than Alfredsson, in his prime and throughout his career. I don't see how that's much of a debate.

I think the Sens will bounce back from this. San Jose has been beating everyone out there not just us.

 

[benjiv1]

Was Pageau still invisible?

 

[Flamingo]

Well from the brief highlights I saw, Spezza let Pavelski go on his goal, but shockingly he was trying to play defense, he was just horribly lost.

The shorty where Karlsson gave up and let his man go was pretty sucktastic though.

Lazy mistakes are unacceptable to me.

On the Spezza backcheck I agree, he did fine until the last second, when he drifted away from his man. Cowen was coming back and had the Shark in the high slot, but left him too when Spezza stopped covering Pavelski.

More communication there would help. Spezza as captain, or Cowen as the out-of-place defenseman, either one of them should have shouted out to say they each took a man. Neither had the awareness or presence of mind to do that.

Next time.

 

[Flamingo]

fml karlsson plays too much (29:29 tonight), takes a while to make a highlight, won't be nearly as good as the one vs Canes, and I'm not including any of Ek's mistakes, but it's looking good so far

It rates favorably even vs the pre-injury Karlsson, not as refined but as dazzling and even more than most of the 13 games.

So far my favorite plays are his masterclass handseye coordination using the shaft to stop a pass! and the other is maneuvering the puck around people while the puck is on end.

It should be live on youtube in a couple hours, hooray upload speed

Thanks for that. I missed the 1st 2 periods yesterday. Good to see Karlsson is starting to play as well as he did at the start of 2013.

It's amazing how many times he strips the puck from an opponent below his own icing line, and turns it up-ice. His team gets a shot on net within 10 seconds.

 

[Indrew]

3-0-1 against the East (54 games of the season) = 94 points
1-5-1 against the West (28 games of the season) = 12 points

94 + 12 = 106 points

We got the playoffs in the bag, ohhhhh yeahhhhhh!

 

[YNWA14]

It helps that the only western teams we've played against are collectively 39-19-5 and if you take out Edmonton it's 34 - 11 - 3. We're about to play another team that is 6 - 2 - 3.

Ottawa hasn't exactly had the easiest schedule to open the season. I know that sounds like an excuse, but it works in our favour moving forward IMO.

 

[Fandlauer]

It helps that the only western teams we've played against are collectively 39-19-5 and if you take out Edmonton it's 34 - 11 - 3. We're about to play another team that is 6 - 2 - 3.

Ottawa hasn't exactly had the easiest schedule to open the season. I know that sounds like an excuse, but it works in our favour moving forward IMO.

I agree this is to our advantage, and we should be well capable of making the playoffs as our schedule gets easier. These recent games do lead me to believe though that we will get hammered when we have to face decent teams in the playoffs. Imagine if we made it to the final and played San Jose? We'd get swept. The last few games have been a good look at how far off being a legit contender we actually are imo.

 

[Quo]

The impression I got from Karlsson during his second intermission interview with Simpson was hardly that of a player who didn't care or wasn't trying his hardest. "Lack of effort" or "laziness" has to be one of the most carelessly abused criticisms on these boards IMO. In reality, I think plays like the Karlsson anti-backcheck are more often caused by mental lapses or a breakdown in team communication.

I expect the team to gain some more familiarity with each other and build momentum when the schedule gets easier. Perhaps by mid season we'll be able to hang with these powerhouse western teams once we iron out the kinks in our game. Hopefully. The worst thing the team could do is start to get down on themselves. There are enough positives to give them hope IMO.

 

[jasonjim]

It's 3.5 things, the way I see it:

1) Lazy defensive play, just coasting around and not being hard on the puck;

2) Terrible neutral-zone play, with nobody on the line being able to gain the offensive zone with possession. Spezza used to be great at this - 2 years ago he was AMAZING at coming in on the left wall, spinning on the halfboards, and dishing it to the middle - but he seems to have completely abandoned that move. Michalek and Greening both seem incapable of doing it themselves; and

3) Inability to keep the puck in the offensive zone, once again due to all 3 players just coasting around and not being hard on the puck (seriously, watch the difference between the Turris line and the Spezza line when they're fighting to keep the puck in the zone), and also stupid giveaways leading to odd man breaks against.

3.5) Michalek blows.

Trade Spezza

 

[John Holmes*]

There is no way Wingels should have got to that puck ahead of Karlsson.

He gave up on the play. He let his man go and it cost us a goal against.

Never mind that he turned the puck over in the first place.

Even the biggest Karlsson fan has to concede that never should have been allowed to happen, and that it was entirely preventable.

Losing is one thing. Beating yourself is another.

 

[YNWA14]

These mistakes are easily correctable. The biggest thing the team is lacking right now is consistent effort. Everyone is guilty of it and it's up to management and the leadership group to fix that. There's no excuse for this team not to make the playoffs.

Also discipline needs to be addressed.

 

[Quo]

Not knowing your ass from your elbow in any given situation often looks like a lack of give a ****. It's not really. It's just dumb. Is that what's happening? Could be. And it's still inexcusable but not as egregious as just not giving a ****. Go ahead and think otherwise but you're just guessing as much as I am.

It's just that the last thing I would do if I went into someone's workplace and saw them struggling would be to ride their ass for lack of effort. Logically, other things can be happening and I just don't get the impression that our problem is compete level.

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

Was Pageau still invisible?

Pageau is playing with a busted wing. I'm not sure why he's out there. Just let him heal 100% and put JOB in his spot.

 

[John Holmes*]

What is wrong with Pageau?

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

What is wrong with Pageau?

Like the team said, he's got a bum shoulder. They aren't letting on on how bad it is, but from what I saw (disclaimer: this is purely speculative), it looked to me like it was dislocated. They can pop it back in and he can play, but its useless for his style of play and winning face-offs.

He shouldn't be playing IMO.

 

[18Hossa]

Why didnt Macarthur play?

 

[Benjamin]

There is no way Wingels should have got to that puck ahead of Karlsson.

He gave up on the play. He let his man go and it cost us a goal against.

Never mind that he turned the puck over in the first place.

Even the biggest Karlsson fan has to concede that never should have been allowed to happen, and that it was entirely preventable.

Losing is one thing. Beating yourself is another.

Its hard to do a set play when Turris goes a bit deep instead of being open like he should be. Karlsson had no one to pass to.

 

[SenzZen]

Blame game. Because I couldn't take part in the GDT.

On Sharks' Goals:

1) Corvo

2) Condra

3) Karlsson

4) Condra

5) Spezza

The first time Condra is on there he gets a bit of slack since he was out of position, covering for Karlsson who got caught up ice. Still no excuse for blindly knocking a puck up ice when he can see there's nobody in the corner.

The second time Condra is on there is because he was terrible. Had a chance to skate or pass the puck out of the zone and fails. Had a chance to make a play on Thornton and fails miserably- doesn't establish body position on the bigger man, and tries a weak stick-lift.

At least Corvo, Karlsson and Spezza provide offence first. Condra would not be in the league if these plays where characteristic of his game.