GDT: WCF Game 5: Dallas Stars @ Vegas Golden Knights | 5:00PM | NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS | DAL Lead 3-1

azvgk

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Nov 29, 2019
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Its the playoffs, stuff goes wrong. I'm sure we'll hear that Max was hurt, he did not look good at all and of course Stone probably would have been sitting out if not down 3-1. More importantly, no matter how much you try you can't guarantee anything by buying this player or that player. I mean last year's Lightning should have taught everyone that. I sure hope Foley listens to that wise advice. Get a few more young guys in there, keep signing good contracts and take another run at the Cup next year and the ten years after it. All you need is a spot in the playoffs and who knows what happens. I mean seriously who would have wanted to back the Stars and their chances when they looked completely toothless in the round robin?

Just saying the exact thing to my friend. You want to be a contender every year. You're not going to hit the jackpot every single year. One thing, though - don't know if it was coaching or a non-fixable flaw, but I was not particularly impressed with Lehner.

One other small point. There is an expansion draft coming up and we are exempt. That means every team loses about their ninth best player and is slightly weaker on the 3rd line. We're not.
 
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Boris Zubov

No relation to Sergei, Joe
May 6, 2016
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Just saying the exact thing to my friend. You want to be a contender every year. You're not going to hit the jackpot every single year. One thing, though - don't know if it was coaching or a non-fixable flaw, but I was not particularly impressed with Lehner.

One other small point. There is an expansion draft coming up and we are exempt. That means every team loses about their ninth best player and is slightly weaker on the 3rd line. We're not.

Your point about Lehner is unfair, IMO. You can point to a dozen reasons the team lost & goaltending would be at the bottom of the list. The margin of error the Knights were working with every game was razor thin. Lehner had 4 shutouts in the playoffs, 3 in the Vancouver series alone & it still went to 7 games. Think about that glove gave he made when it was still 0-0 in the 7th game. Then he let in 9 goals total in the 5 games of this series & his save % was above .920. Not sure what you're expecting.
 
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Vegan Knight

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Feb 16, 2018
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Your post about Lehner is unfair, IMO. You can point to a dozen reasons the team lost & goaltending would be at the bottom of the list. The margin of error the Knights were working with every game was razor thin. Lehner had 4 shutouts in the playoffs, 3 in the Vancouver series alone & it still went to 7 games. Think about that glove gave he made when it was still 0-0 in the 7th game. Then he let in 9 goals total in the 5 games of this series & his save % was above .920. Not sure what you're expecting.

He made some good saves tonight to even get to OT. If Dallas score before we make it 2-0 it was lights out. Even then, he saved the initial shot and almost had the rebound on the tying goal.

Dallas had higher expected goals than us all series despite 15 shots less every game. That's on the forwards and Deboer failing to show up or change a plan that wasn't working.
 
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Nighthock

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Will be interesting to see what happens in the “offseason.”
 
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willy702

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Jul 3, 2016
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Just saying the exact thing to my friend. You want to be a contender every year. You're not going to hit the jackpot every single year. One thing, though - don't know if it was coaching or a non-fixable flaw, but I was not particularly impressed with Lehner.

One other small point. There is an expansion draft coming up and we are exempt. That means every team loses about their ninth best player and is slightly weaker on the 3rd line. We're not.

Most definitely on the expansion draft. Don't know if a deal is done off-season or mid season but it's a great potential opportunity. Will just come down to if GMs decided not to do deals and just take the hit. I'm sure it's going to mess up the goalie market, if you sign a FA (anyone else) your younger guy is going to be a target. If you sign a depth player cause you only trust veterans, say bye bye to a guy who could develop into a top six guy. Tampa situation is really tough, I hope that's where they start thinking big first. They got guys who would be top line players on the third line, someone is getting taken. VGK have to see if they can upgrade there and let someone else go to clear a top six spot. I don't think too many would be sad to see Marchy go if they replace him with a bigger two way player.
 

Ms Maggie

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Apr 11, 2017
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Sorry Knights. Was pulling for you.

FWIW think this is Tampa's year. Straight up the best team.
 

hangman005

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Apr 19, 2015
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Disappointing, Can't say we really deserved to win the series so I'm not really upset about that, just disappointed. Tis what it tis, there are a few areas we need to shake up next season.
 

mundyc3

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May 17, 2017
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I don't think Pete is right for this team. It has nothing to do with Gallant's exit either. His complacency and reliance on his lines, his game plan mirrors Gallant. I find it baffling in the presser that it seemed like he was baffled his team lost. To do the same thing over and over again and expect different results is the definition of insanity. DeBoer believes in their "game" so much that the Knights lost six out of the last eight games running it. Demko may have been great against us, but for Crawford and Khudobin to look just as amazing? It isn't the opposing goalie. It is the offensive attack that is the problem, not just hot goalies.

I cannot stand that DeBoer feels his game plan was good enough. Analytically it may look nice. But to see the same result every single game is not a coincidence. It is not working and it is baffling that our coach would sit back and feel they can continue on the same path, to think the numbers will sway into the Knights favor. Its too late.

Side note: for the love of God everyone stop with the goalie controversy. Had nothing to do with the games at all. These people on Twitter pouncing on Lehner blaming him need to find another sport.
 

PaulD

Time for a new GM !
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Took us like 41 minutes to score 2 goals.

Takes Dallas like 5 to 10 minutes just to score 2 and tie it up.

That is just what pisses me off so much about this series.
Khudobin wasn't allowing that to happen.

OT winner short side under the arm. Khudobin stopping those shots for the last month.
 

PaulD

Time for a new GM !
Feb 4, 2016
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I don't think Pete is right for this team. It has nothing to do with Gallant's exit either. His complacency and reliance on his lines, his game plan mirrors Gallant. I find it baffling in the presser that it seemed like he was baffled his team lost. To do the same thing over and over again and expect different results is the definition of insanity. DeBoer believes in their "game" so much that the Knights lost six out of the last eight games running it. Demko may have been great against us, but for Crawford and Khudobin to look just as amazing? It isn't the opposing goalie. It is the offensive attack that is the problem, not just hot goalies.

I cannot stand that DeBoer feels his game plan was good enough. Analytically it may look nice. But to see the same result every single game is not a coincidence. It is not working and it is baffling that our coach would sit back and feel they can continue on the same path, to think the numbers will sway into the Knights favor. Its too late.

Side note: for the love of God everyone stop with the goalie controversy. Had nothing to do with the games at all. These people on Twitter pouncing on Lehner blaming him need to find another sport.
Great take on Deboer.

I would not "blame" Lehner . But he did give up a softie in each on the last 3 games. When you lose by a goal (2 of those games in OT) Those softies are killers.

It aint Lehners fault they lost.............but the softies he let in were significant. There is no denying that.

I ghink Patch was playing injured.
If Marchy and Smith were not injured......they sure played like they were.

DeBoer reminds me of Michelle Therrien. "Adjustments in a seven games series? .....whats that"?
 
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PaulD

Time for a new GM !
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Your point about Lehner is unfair, IMO. You can point to a dozen reasons the team lost & goaltending would be at the bottom of the list. The margin of error the Knights were working with every game was razor thin. Lehner had 4 shutouts in the playoffs, 3 in the Vancouver series alone & it still went to 7 games. Think about that glove gave he made when it was still 0-0 in the 7th game. Then he let in 9 goals total in the 5 games of this series & his save % was above .920. Not sure what you're expecting.
I think he and other were expecting just what you said.......for him to play in the finals the way he played getting to the finals.

Game 3, 4 and 5.......he gave up one softie in each of those games. That was not the ONLY reason they lost the series, but it was one of them.

Knights will still be a contender for years to come.

Personally, I believe a better coach for this team is in the cards.
 

PaulD

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I was just posting I was going to pick Heiskanen to win it since he only had 1 point in this series but Gurianov finally scores one instead. He and Kiviranta had 0 points in this series until tonight.
They must not have played much against Reily Smith or Martinez. Who seem to be on the ice for every Dallas goal scored.
 

CupInSIX

My cap runneth over
Jul 1, 2012
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They must not have played much against Reily Smith or Martinez. Who seem to be on the ice for every Dallas goal scored.

You have this seeming hatred for Smith after such a tiny sample size. Trust me he's one of their better forwards in the playoffs and regular season
 

PaulD

Time for a new GM !
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You have this seeming hatred for Smith after such a tiny sample size. Trust me he's one of their better forwards in the playoffs and regular season
Who played like junior B player the entire series.
And you seem to mistake opinions on who played poorly with "hate"
I dont hate one player in the NHL.
I assume you dont either.
You don't have to educate me on players either. I watched Smith play well for Boston, Florida, and Vegas.
But he out and out stunk in this series.
 

CupInSIX

My cap runneth over
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Who played like junior B player the entire series.
And you seem to mistake opinions on who played poorly with "hate"
I dont hate one player in the NHL.
I assume you dont either.
You don't have to educate me on players either. I watched Smith play well for Boston, Florida, and Vegas.
But he out and out stunk in this series.

Then you would have noticed how awful both wingers on that line were.

Anway, only God knows why Deboer didn't split them & put one of them on the 3rd line.
 
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PaulD

Time for a new GM !
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Then you would have noticed how awful both wingers on that line were.

Anway, only God knows why Deboer didn't split them & put one of them on the 3rd line.

Agreed.
And in reading your comments I realize I might have been inappropriately harsh in my comments on Smith.
 

azvgk

Registered User
Nov 29, 2019
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Your point about Lehner is unfair, IMO. You can point to a dozen reasons the team lost & goaltending would be at the bottom of the list. The margin of error the Knights were working with every game was razor thin. Lehner had 4 shutouts in the playoffs, 3 in the Vancouver series alone & it still went to 7 games. Think about that glove gave he made when it was still 0-0 in the 7th game. Then he let in 9 goals total in the 5 games of this series & his save % was above .920. Not sure what you're expecting.
Not saying Lehner is the reason we lost, many reasons for that. But before we commit to 5 years of Lehner, we need to think long and hard. In most of those shutouts, he was barely tested except for a few admittedly excellent saves - a top goalie is expected to make most of those. He also let in a lot of very soft goals, appeared out of position often and the OT goal last night was extremely catchable and should';ve been caught. Further, he wqs unquestionably out-goaltended by Khudobin in the series, who is at best a middling goalie who Colorado lit up. Not saying Lehner is Malcolm Subhan, but VGK has Cup aspirations in the near future and I'm not sure he is the guy to sign long-term.
 

The Duck Knight

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Lehner is more than good enough to win a Cup. Goaltending is so unpredictable that I'd argue it's the least important position to focus on so long as you have someone that doesn't blow games for you. Just look at the goalies that have won Cups in the cap era. Outside of Quick they are all more or less average goalies that were on great teams and got hot at the right time.
 

Vegan Knight

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Not saying Lehner is the reason we lost, many reasons for that. But before we commit to 5 years of Lehner, we need to think long and hard. In most of those shutouts, he was barely tested except for a few admittedly excellent saves - a top goalie is expected to make most of those. He also let in a lot of very soft goals, appeared out of position often and the OT goal last night was extremely catchable and should';ve been caught. Further, he wqs unquestionably out-goaltended by Khudobin in the series, who is at best a middling goalie who Colorado lit up. Not saying Lehner is Malcolm Subhan, but VGK has Cup aspirations in the near future and I'm not sure he is the guy to sign long-term.

He didn't let in a lot of soft goals. Yesterday's goal was on the PP and after quick passing. It could have been saved but is not a soft goal. Besides that he had maybe four in 16 games.

Also, focusing too much on shot totals and not quality of shots. We were often out chanced with quality opportunities.

Easier to make 20 saves in the chest and 10 more low percentage shots and let in two of five difficult shots than to make 7 tough saves and 7 easy ones including long periods of no play to get cold. Stopping any change of momentum.

But the narrative is one goalie kept his team in it with 33 of 35 and the other coasted to a 14 save shutout.
 

Vegas07

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Dec 6, 2018
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How is Khudobin a middling goalie? His numbers were way better than what we’ve seen from Fleury the past couple of years. He also has better numbers than Bishop this year.
 

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