Post-Game Talk: The 100 Year Drought - Avs 4 @ Canucks 1 | Who are we - really?

[Wilch]

The Canucks in a playoff race - play mediocre when jousting for a better seeding or a playoff spot; probably end up playing the Kings

The Canucks out of the playoffs - play well and kick ass when 2 losses in meaningless games was the difference between picking Virtanen and Bennett

 

[PG Canuck]

Canuck mysteries of the universe....why is Dan Hamhuis, he of zero goals on the season, manning the point on the second unit power play?...tell me again why Vey is in the middle and Mathias is on the wing, despite the fact that he's most effective when he can carry the puck?....what is the future of that deadly Bieksa-Sbisa d-combo?...finally, if Kassian or Kenins had made the same kind of giveway as Chris Higgins before the second Av's goal, how long would they be spending in the pressbox?....questions...questions, but answers? Not so much.

Why are the Sedins and the first PP unit, only playing 1:30 out of 4 minutes of powerplays in the third period when we need two goals?

No one really knows.

 

[Captain Bowie]

Anyway, now that we've all got stuff off our chest, moving on to the Dallas game.

The Canucks obviously control their own fate but the thing is, they need to do just that: control their fate! They need to come out and play like a team that is not guaranteed a playoff spot yet. Lack did his part today and is usually there doing his part. It's the rest of this team that needs to get their heads out of their ***** and come out to play hard for 60 minutes. We've just seen way too much of losses like tonight.

Take a page out of Calgary's book: play with some urgency!

How would you describe the games against LA, Arizona, and Winnipeg in the last week?

I don't care about urgency, I care about wins and points. If Calgary truly has been more "urgent" than us lately, well it hasn't been enough to catch us in the standings, so...

 

[684]

You're right, we're probably ****ed.


But seriously, don't you think I know the difference. Nowhere have I said that we have it locked up. All I am doing is providing the numbers that support my level of confidence. Please stop acting like I am saying anything more than that.

I think we're all on the same page, just different levels of optimism.

 

[Baby Pettersson]

Nevermind. Maybe I got the wrong message from your post. Sometimes things get misconstrued on the internet. Apologies, but let's just move on shall we?

Sounds great to me. Hope we can put this behind us because I usually agree with most of the shenanigans you post.

 

[polarbearcub]

Why are the Sedins and the first PP unit, only playing 1:30 out of 4 minutes of powerplays in the third period when we need two goals?

No one really knows.

That pp thing is a joke. Ride the twins hard on those pps. Full two minutes IMO

 

[Wilch]

Why are the Sedins and the first PP unit, only playing 1:30 out of 4 minutes of powerplays in the third period when we need two goals?

No one really knows.

WD is clearly a communist.

 

[me2]

We were talking about a hypothetical situation, that could very well happen.

My point is not numbers, stats, odds, %'s.. My point is that we are in no way close to making the playoffs.

MIN - 91
VAN - 90
WPG - 90
LAK - 88
CAL - 87

Can teams lose 2 in a row? Yes. Can teams win 2 in a row? Yes. We aren't close to anything.

we are sitting pretty. Seriously all 4 teams have to be better than us. LA and Calgary by quite a bit. Feel very safe.

 

[NuxFan09]

That's the issue I have had with your argument. We have done a great job picking up points during this stretch. Better than the other teams around us. I don't understand the pessimism.

We have done a great job in general. That Jets and Kings games were awesome displays! I'm just saying the Canucks could have so easily padded their lead in the standings even more in games against the Jackets recently and the Avalanche tonight.

Can't win 'em all of course, but what a lot of us are saying is it's not even about losing. It's about the way they're losing. This team could be SO good but they choose to glide around in games like this and what's maddening is they do it when they're not in a position to do so, despite what many here suggest.

 

[PG Canuck]

That pp thing is a joke. Ride the twins hard on those pps. Full two minutes IMO

Agreed. Like I believe MS said, this peewee "everybody has to play!" BS has to stop. That second unit has been terrible ALL SEASON, yet is out there to try and tie the game? Laughable. I don't even care if the second unit may have looked a tad better tonight either. You put the game on the sticks of your big players...WD is more worried about playing everyone so no ones feelings are hurt.

 

[Captain Bowie]

We have done a great job in general. That Jets and Kings games were awesome displays! I'm just saying the Canucks could have so easily padded their lead in the standings even more in games against the Jackets recently and the Avalanche tonight.

Can't win 'em all of course, but what a lot of us are saying is it's not even about losing. It's about the way they're losing. This team could be SO good but they choose to glide around in games like this and what's maddening is they do it when they're not in a position to do so, despite what many here suggest.

Just curious, if we traded a few losses against Ari/Buf/ect... for a few wins against Pittsburgh, Chicago, Anaheim, ect.... would you feel about their position?

 

[NuxFan09]

Sounds great to me. Hope we can put this behind us because I usually agree with most of the shenanigans you post.

Absolutely.

This may seem like a cop out but sometimes I think I love this team just a bit too much. I've got everyone one of their moves under a microscope and heaven knows when you're looking through a microscope you're not seeing a big picture at all.

I stand by my concerns, but moreover I just want to get the hell into the playoffs already. Then I can relax!

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

As for PP you load up the 1st unit and play them the bulk.

You want your 2nd unit hardly scoring because your 1st unit scores so much.

 

[PM]

This team looks so empty up front without Kassian. I think Lack's play lately has hid a lot of this team's faults. Our team defense has been atrocious lately but Lack has been unstoppable every night except one and our offense has been bailing us out. But my biggest worry is by far coaching at this point. How you can only put out the first unit for 1:30 of the final 4 minutes of PP and give the worst regular powerplay unit we have had in the last decade 2:30 of it is beyond me. Why do this? Why is the second unit still the same second unit that has scored twice all year while getting ample time? Why is Sbisa and Bieksa still a pair?

And linechanges!!! Holy dear god we might be the single worst line-changing team I have ever seen. Leading the league in too many men penalties and probably averaging about half a goal per game against due to poorly timed changes.

 

[Diogenes92]

Vey sucks. He needs to go to Utica. Hamhuis has been terrible for a while now too and its really worrying me. And we need Richardson and Kassian back soon. They make the lineup so much more balanced.

 

[NuxFan09]

Just curious, if we traded a few losses against Ari/Buf/ect... for a few wins against Pittsburgh, Chicago, Anaheim, ect.... would you feel about their position?

That's a good question and I've thought about it. I don't think I would be as amped about the team if they didn't have as many great wins against great teams, but in a weird sort of way I'd feel more comfortable, as if things were going more according to plan, if the Canucks had more wins against the teams they should beat and less against the better teams.

I wouldn't trade those good wins though. Not in a million years. I guess I just feel like the Canucks are fully capable of having their cake and eating it too (aka beating the good teams and bad teams). Am I alone in thinking that the games against Columbus and Colorado recently were entirely winnable, that the Canucks could be on some insane streak right now?

Anyway, it's neither here nor there. Just have to hope the boys come out with a better effort against Dallas on Saturday.

 

[Rotting Corpse*]

Lucas Pizza, my friend. You're saying only truths, I understand.

My point, which has clearly been poorly expressed and therefore poorly understood, is that we have a good chance to make the playoffs compared to those fighting against us but that this 'better chance' is very minuscule if we lose another game in reg.

Chances and odds change by the game. At this point our odds are better than the Kings and Flames. We aren't 1 game away from the playoffs, we are 7. A lot can happen in 7 and it's possible that when there is 1 game left, we are the ones who have to leap frog a team to get in.

Yes but you're estimating those odds, that's all. It's not likely to lose a coin flip ten times in a row. However, if you've just lost nine in a row then you're sitting at fifty/fifty. But you still need to lose nine in a row to be in that spot.

Nobody disagrees that if we **** the bed we won't make it. If we lose our next five games our situation will be dire. But I am confident we can get eight more points and make it even if a team passes us.

 

[Cupless44]

we are sitting pretty. Seriously all 4 teams have to be better than us. LA and Calgary by quite a bit. Feel very safe.

How safe will you feel in the first round against the Kings?

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Vey sucks. He needs to go to Utica. Hamhuis has been terrible for a while now too and its really worrying me. And we need Richardson and Kassian back soon. They make the lineup so much more balanced.

There's been a lot of nights where Vey has deserved criticism, but he was one of the few guys who seemed to be working hard on each shift from the word go. He's had a solid few games in a row, which is nice to see.

It's one game of several big ones remaining, and running the table was never likely, but it's still a tough loss - especially when the game seems like it would have been winnable if the effort had been there.

 

[PG Canuck]

Approaching 1000 posts.

Part II: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1863217

Closed.