PGT was closed so just posting thoughts from Game 2 here:
- First off, difference in our energy level from last game was night and day. The Canucks were much quicker to loose pucks and actually won their fair share of puck battles.
- Glad we finally beat Vegas in regulation for the first time! It was getting annoying.
- Loved our forecheck in how it consistently put pressure on the Vegas D-men throughout the first half of the game and generated offensive zone time as a result. Part of this was because they were a lot more consistent in putting speed on their dump-ins, making life better for whichever F1 was going in. Puck support coming out of our own end was better too. VAN continues to be opportunistic on creating offense off turnovers at 5v5 (mostly in the OZ/NZ) but need to better withstand some of the Golden Knights' pushes. The 1st and 3rd periods were positives for us at 5v5, but the 2nd was ugly.
- We're looking at going into the 3rd tied or maybe even down if Marky wasn't an absolute brick wall in the latter half of the 2nd. Wonder how long he can keep having 30+ save nights before he starts to burn out...
- Virtanen still looks lost at times in the O-zone: there was a sequence at 14:30 of the 2nd where he had more time than he thought and could've skated the puck deeper as Miller was covering back near the blueline. Nonetheless, he still drives possession and should be getting more than 9-10 mins/game. LOL'ed hard at him getting under Tuch's skin late in the 3rd - this is where you can see he might have a bit of an agitating side to him. JV hasn't shown it often, yet he has potential especially if he combines that with some timely body checks on top.
- Fantenberg and Benn may be physical and "good in their own end" and all that but they sure struggle at moving the puck cleanly. They got crushed tonight in possession.
- Miller's such a gamer. Playing hurt but still a key part of the offense, but sometimes I wish he wouldn't try to rush through 3 opponents all by himself... Though not overly huge, he's fiercely competitive physically and really knows how to use his size to his advantage all over the ice - one thing that JV should emulate more of.
- What a game from EP. Not only in scoring but his defensive positioning, effort in his own end and all the little stuff he does to facilitate zone exits. His skill's otherworldly of course, but I'm continually more impressed by his sheer intelligence and drive to be better. Did notice he got hit with 5:17 to go in the 3rd when Smith stepped up on him in the neutral zone after he was caught admiring his pass to Hughes - could've been dangerous even if it was shoulder-on-shoulder; hopefully he's more mindful of that in future considering he's already gotten a concussion before.
- Boeser barely played tonight... makes you wonder if he's playing hurt.
- Stecher continues to play well, not only in moving the puck but actually maintaining a tight gap on opponents in the neutral zone, which was key in stopping some of their rushes. His pairing with Edler - whose veteran savvy showed - continues to carry the defensive workload and shone tonight in pushing possession against the Golden Knights. They killed it against VGK's 2nd line especially.
- Wish they'd load up PP1 with Boeser and Toffoli on it so they'd have 2 right shots - did they not learn anything from Game 6 against STL? Also must do a better job of preventing passes across the slot on the PK.
- Green's really trying to hide Hughes at ES. Also noticed Horvat was being subbed in for Gaudette on D-zone draws. In these playoffs, by TOI the Beagle line is now effectively the 3rd line... which isn't exactly a good thing but is a natural conclusion to what Green was already doing in the regular season. Motte/Beagle/Sutter shouldn't be playing more than EP at 5v5 too.
- Noticed McNabb had problems with his positional awareness throughout this game. Seems to be a passenger as Schmidt is the one who really carries that pairing and might actually be a weakness which we can potentially exploit defensively.
- Boeser's delay of game midway through the 2nd period was absolute BS. Why isn't the league allowing reviews of those? Edler's penalty with 2:50 left in the 3rd was soft AF too.
- Dude sitting next to McPhee in the press box needs to learn how to wear a ****ing mask.
good post and i agree with most. Some thoughts
Touching on the ice time thing it's really just a matter of 10 pps for Vegas and protecting a lead to why it was skewed. Boeser is still learning to be strong on pucks and make sure they get in and out. He struggled in our zone a couple times and then he started to get managed by Green is all. I don"t think he's hurt but imagine they all are banged up at this stage to certain degrees. Hughes Tanev and Miller are the most noticeable for me
On the PP... who are you advocating comes out for Boeser? i dont think that makes much sense when Miller and Horvat are so vital at entries and net presence. But i did like the Boeser one timer against St.Lou also. Don't feel it's an issue anyway but it could be if Miller cant get power on his shot.
Really like what you said about Petey and targetting him. It's absolute trash that the refs gave Vegas that much leniency this early in the series to follow through late with dirty crap. I hate being a whiner about refs but that Sutherland history that was touched on and the mistakes that Burke touched on in the 2nd intermission and the slew foot and late hits by Smith with a stick to the face are critical flaws and are allowing teams an unfair advantage that may cost us a series......it needs to stop. It's also ironic that as we go further and it's been established that we can murder teams on the PP that the refs started this series calling very little of the interference that they did early in the playoffs. The NHL looks so biased and manged sometimes towards these power broker NHL teams from the US.
Anyways...just be consistent, protect the players(especially the stars) from late dirty crap and don't make idiotic mistakes like the glass and out call....oh and lets flood social media with this Sutherland thing. He must be Ron McLean's boyfriend or something its eerie how many examples of defining pathetic moments he's been associated with....done rant.
As good as Vegas is they also have a lot of weaknesses that we can potentially exploit. You touched on McNabb who is a solid player but as a feature player is out of his depth and i also believe Holden and Whitecloud are not very good if we can make them turn and put them under pressure. If they go to Fleury and he has an off game that could really get in their heads also
In net we have an advantage and at centre ice is where Travis has to be driving home that Bo and Petey can win this series. Stastny has been declining for sometime now and Karlsson is a solid player but our 2 top centres can exploit their superiority over these 2 guys and did last game. On the Wings it's almost a saw off with Toffoli back and if Myers could play and not struggle with the intensity and fore check jumping in to the pressure that could be a game changer as well. Hughes and Tanev are playing banged up and the Fanta Benn pairings are what the Knights are going after. Getting the good Myers version would be huge for our speed on the back end and being able to handle Stone and Tuch down low. Fanta and Benn are murdering our possession even though its hard to fault their defensive play.
Looking at that Vegas roster piece by piece we can beat them. But the guys have to be as committed and intense as the Knights play and better at getting away from the squeeze they put on in their fore check. Quick tight passes and efficient exits just as we did to St.Lou as the series wore on could turn this series.
We can do this
