Sparks needs to be better...

[Kiwi]

Players play differently if they don't trust the goalie.
Though the goals were difficult ones, if his technique was sound he would probably have stopped 3 or maybe all of them.
Yes he started back to back, but the game before was pretty easy, but if you're giving it as an excuse for sparks play, then you have to give it to the whole team as they too played back to back.
Personally I think sparks has played better in the past 2 games. He has not been as scrambly and only lost his net 3 or 4 times a game, which is an improvement.
However he still struggles with all the other aspects of the game and last game showed how he cannot close up his holes fast enough

He's the backup, playing a b2b because of injury after an excellent performance the night before
I'd expect the team to look after him and be tight defensively in front of him because of that not to play one of the worst games I've seen out of the lot of them all season

If anything he kept them in a game they had no business being in after they **** the bed in the 1st period giving up high danger chances like candy at Christmas time

The cold hard fact is Sparks has looked better as the season has progressed, he's also giving the team an opportunity to win whenever he's played and seems to be embracing his role, those arepositive signs

Technically he's questionable but as the season is progressing I'm feeling better about the kid and his future with the team, hell I wouldn't mind seeing him play more to keep Andersen freash

 

[saltming]

He's the backup, playing a b2b because of injury after an excellent performance the night before
I'd expect the team to look after him and be tight defensively in front of him because of that not to play one of the worst games I've seen out of the lot of them all season

If anything he kept them in a game they had no business being in after they **** the bed in the 1st period giving up high danger chances like candy at Christmas time

The cold hard fact is Sparks has looked better as the season has progressed, he's also giving the team an opportunity to win whenever he's played and seems to be embracing his role, those arepositive signs

Technically he's questionable but as the season is progressing I'm feeling better about the kid and his future with the team, hell I wouldn't mind seeing him play more to keep Andersen freash

The team was playing ok until the 3rd goal, then they stopped skating.
Sparks has not given the team a chance to win yet. When your goalie regularly gives up 4 goals, it's the team helping out the goalie, not the other way around.
Saying you wouldn't mind seeing him play more is like saying you want the team to struggle.
Last year the team had faith in McE and played confident in front of him. Not so with sparks in net

 

[Mr Hockey]

I honestly believe that guy doesn't watch the games, he gets opinions off posts he reads.

 

[Kiwi]

The team was playing ok until the 3rd goal, then they stopped skating.
Sparks has not given the team a chance to win yet. When your goalie regularly gives up 4 goals, it's the team helping out the goalie, not the other way around.
Saying you wouldn't mind seeing him play more is like saying you want the team to struggle.
Last year the team had faith in McE and played confident in front of him. Not so with sparks in net

What were you watching? The team were God awful in the 1st period and gave up something like 6 HDCA in the 1st alone, i wouldn't expect that over an entire game, it was a miracle we were only down 1 at that point

The team was baaaaad, truly bad and how anyone can give them any sort of pass after that performance is beyond me, they deserved to get bag skated especially with Andersen hurt and Sparks asked to play again the next night

His GAA is around 3 and his sv% is a 906, considering he's a rookie playing b2b's with a tired team in front and we play a very offense first style for him to put up those numbers is very solid and his record is 6-2-1, it's like you people expect Vezena level goaltending out of the kid ffs

The team wins when he plays hence his 6-2-1 record, that's why he should get the opportunity to play more, Freddy also wore down last season so keeping him fresh should be priority no1

McBackup was technically **** as well, he also had a career year and was on the IR recently because of injury, whoopee

I'd also like to point out that while we score we give up a crap ton as well, let's not pretend the goaltender is sitting on his hands doing Jack **** behind this team, defensively were still a work in progress

 

[Kiwi]

I honestly believe that guy doesn't watch the games, he gets opinions off posts he reads.

Do you really think you of all people should be throwing that one out? That's a big call coming from you

 

[saltming]

What were you watching? The team were God awful in the 1st period and gave up something like 6 HDCA in the 1st alone, i wouldn't expect that over an entire game, it was a miracle we were only down 1 at that point

The team was baaaaad, truly bad and how anyone can give them any sort of pass after that performance is beyond me, they deserved to get bag skated especially with Andersen hurt and Sparks asked to play again the next night

His GAA is around 3 and his sv% is a 906, considering he's a rookie playing b2b's with a tired team in front and we play a very offense first style for him to put up those numbers is very solid and his record is 6-2-1, it's like you people expect Vezena level goaltending out of the kid ffs

The team wins when he plays hence his 6-2-1 record, that's why he should get the opportunity to play more, Freddy also wore down last season so keeping him fresh should be priority no1

McBackup was technically **** as well, he also had a career year and was on the IR recently because of injury, whoopee

I'd also like to point out that while we score we give up a crap ton as well, let's not pretend the goaltender is sitting on his hands doing Jack **** behind this team, defensively were still a work in progress

We are not going to agree here kiwi, but you brought up the fact sparks was playing back to back so we should take 5hat into consideration so fair is fair and it should be taken into consideration for the whole team.
Questions, how many back door plays did sparks have to stop?
How many of the goals leaked through his 5 hole or between his arm and body?
When you answer those questions you will have the reason why I don't see an NHL goalie in him. McE could shut his holes on time and didn't get regularly beaten through his body.

 

[Kiwi]

We are not going to agree here kiwi, but you brought up the fact sparks was playing back to back so we should take 5hat into consideration so fair is fair and it should be taken into consideration for the whole team.
Questions, how many back door plays did sparks have to stop?
How many of the goals leaked through his 5 hole or between his arm and body?
When you answer those questions you will have the reason why I don't see an NHL goalie in him. McE could shut his holes on time and didn't get regularly beaten through his body.

He's been playing on b2b all season Salt, the teams been winning but it's certainly different if he's playing both the games in the b2b, that's tough for no1 goaltenders let alone Sparks

The team needed to look after him like they have been doing this season, unfortunately that didn't happen, we got shelled early and never really recovered

I didn't love the 1st goal or the 4th, I'd like to point out that the game was over by the time of the 4th goal and he gave the team a chance only being down by one at the first break which was daylight robbery, the other two goals he had no chance on

We were bad, Sparks wasn't good, the team wasn't good, the coaching staff weren't good, there's plenty of blame to go around

McBackup is old, he's already been on the IR this season and Sparks Is 6-2-1
The last I looked it's the backups job to win games which Sparks has done and his numbers aren't bad, he's mid 20's and is still trying to see if he's good enough to stick in the league

I don't see the problem

 

[saltming]

He's been playing on b2b all season Salt, the teams been winning but it's certainly different if he's playing both the games in the b2b, that's tough for no1 goaltenders let alone Sparks

The team needed to look after him like they have been doing this season, unfortunately that didn't happen, we got shelled early and never really recovered

I didn't love the 1st goal or the 4th, I'd like to point out that the game was over by the time of the 4th goal and he gave the team a chance only being down by one at the first break which was daylight robbery, the other two goals he had no chance on

We were bad, Sparks wasn't good, the team wasn't good, the coaching staff weren't good, there's plenty of blame to go around

McBackup is old, he's already been on the IR this season and Sparks Is 6-2-1
The last I looked it's the backups job to win games which Sparks has done and his numbers aren't bad, he's mid 20's and is still trying to see if he's good enough to stick in the league

I don't see the problem

For the record I agree the while team was bad, but not as bad as you're saying. 10 sog in the 1st is hardly a shelling.
The only point we disagree on is that sparks has NHL potential. I won't say 100% no, but I'm heavily leaning to the no side

 

[Kiwi]

For the record I agree the while team was bad, but not as bad as you're saying. 10 sog in the 1st is hardly a shelling.
The only point we disagree on is that sparks has NHL potential. I won't say 100% no, but I'm heavily leaning to the no side

6 were HDCA, giving up low quality shots is one thing but letting guys get that may SOG from that area is bad, I don't think we've given up that many in one period all season

I've got some doubts about him but I still agree with the decision to keep him over McBackup and I think he's done enough thus far to continue persevering with him

I doubt he's ever a starter but I think he could be a decent cheap backup for us over the longer term

 

[saltming]

6 were HDCA, giving up low quality shots is one thing but letting guys get that may SOG from that area is bad, I don't think we've given up that many in one period all season

I've got some doubts about him but I still agree with the decision to keep him over McBackup and I think he's done enough thus far to continue persevering with him

I doubt he's ever a starter but I think he could be a decent cheap backup for us over the longer term

Meh I still think he would have cleared waivers. One more year in the ahl and see how his next camp would be.
I can only eye test the 1st period and there were some shots from in close but they were routine stops imo.
Btw happy new year brother! How is 2019 looking?

 

[Notsince67]

bet u sparks or if its Hutchinson ends up with superior numbers than mcbackup
6-2-1 !
ain't bad for most teams backups the leafs didn't show up
nylander could've picked last night to look like pasternak

Mcbackup has almost exactly the same average shots per game and is a .922 with a 2.31 GAA vs Sparks at a .905 with a 3.01 GAA

 

[Kiwi]

Meh I still think he would have cleared waivers. One more year in the ahl and see how his next camp would be.
I can only eye test the 1st period and there were some shots from in close but they were routine stops imo.
Btw happy new year brother! How is 2019 looking?

If Pickard and McBackup didn't clear I seriously doubt Sparks was clearing waivers, I think he did everything he could in the AHL last season
He deserved the chance to show what he was capable of one way or another this season

That 1st period was baaaad, I thought he did everything he could to keep us in the game, if the skaters could of shown a little life we had a chance, they didn't

Happy New Year to you to Salt, it's a balmy 25° Celsius so she's not to bad right now

 

[indigobuffalo]

Not quite the same. It happens to every goalie yes, but the frequency at which it happens defines good from bad.
Sparks is very leaky, andersen is not

Sorry I was poking fun at the grammar. They’re only goals if they go in the net. He should’ve said shots.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

This place is nuts. People fully expecting Sparks to stop a double deflection through a screen. That game should have been 1-0 islanders It was ONE bad goal, and not even a terrible goal at that, nice shot and head fake by an elite player.

 

[DarkKnight]

Mcbackup has almost exactly the same average shots per game and is a .922 with a 2.31 GAA vs Sparks at a .905 with a 3.01 GAA

Actually .924 and 2.22 and Mc plays for a shit team. The other goalie with Carolina is .901 with a losing record for some perspective.

 

[saltming]

Sorry I was poking fun at the grammar. They’re only goals if they go in the net. He should’ve said shots.