According to the reporter, our problems are Carey and our leaders in the team. Also injuries, but "no excuses" is our motto.
Don't recommend reading this article.
Things that actually sunk us:
1 We didn't post a player in front of Anderson. There was Gallagher. But the other players we set there would stand next to him, not even trying to block his view. Or they would just be too far from him. Anderson's a good goalie, I'll give him that. But give any goalie some room and vision and they won't have much issues.
2 We didn't clear our crease. Sens kept putting big bodies directly in front of Price, even bothering his movement (which was fair enough for a playoff level).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b153Kx7visM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKvcFpHgqpA
3 Most importantly, we weren't properly covering opposing players while playing defensively. Apart form the PP goals, every goal scored was because a Sens player separated himself from the play. It's easy t blame a goalie for goals. Sure Price may have let in a few easy ones. But most of those can be debated that were really errors from our defensive play. Had we tightened up our game, most of those probably would never happen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZcZVxwWiug (PK way out of position, Sens players are half covered)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vNpwN7cWMg (1v2 created by our player being behind the play and not paying attention, 2 of ours following them behind, and another player of theirs left alone to take the rebound)
I had called it even before the series started. We have a great puck possession team focused on offense. But you need a better defense relative to your offense if you want to go far into the playoffs. During game 2, we did all the defensive tasks that were necessary. But apart from that game, our team sucked as a whole when playing defensively.
Heck, most teams that play a very offensive game do well in the normal season, usually. But in the playoffs, it gets more difficult.
The Sens had a good offense, but an even better defense. We were the opposite all season long, part of our defense was having a good offense as well. However, you need a much better defense in the playoffs.
It's easy to blame a goalie for losses. It's easy to say we need a goalie to steal games and win the series. You know how rare those are, when a goalie can steal or have us win a series? You can point out to Halak all you want. Sure he played more than great, 3 years ago. On the other hand, the team was also playing a much much more defensive game than we are right now. You give a goalie some good D, and they'll look good if they make the needed saves. You give a goalie terrible D, and there won't be much he can stop even if they look like easy goals.
