Why does Steven Stamkos struggle in the playoffs?

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I don't understand his positioning on the PP.

Him being in the middle created the Kucherov goal - when he recieved the puck there he dragged two players towards him, ready to block a shot, and that created all the space

You'd think he'd just be in an Ovi position, ready to snipe, but this was actually a pretty smart play
 

The Macho King

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Him being in the middle created the Kucherov goal - when he recieved the puck there he dragged two players towards him, ready to block a shot, and that created all the space

You'd think he'd just be in an Ovi position, ready to snipe, but this was actually a pretty smart play

That was a 4 on 3 - not the same thing at all.
 

DFC

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1 goal and 6 points in 9 games. And 3 of those points were secondary assists on the power play.

If you're a Tampa fan the goal was hopefully a positive sign. But he's still underperforming.

For sure, but he was definitely great in that game. And, as a frustrated fan, I'll definitely take it and hope it's a sign of things to come.
 

zeykshade

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1 goal and 6 points in 9 games. And 3 of those points were secondary assists on the power play.

If you're a Tampa fan the goal was hopefully a positive sign. But he's still underperforming.

Watch the lowly Secondary Assist on the 4 on 3 PP goal from Kucherov. That entire play is made by Stamkos. Sometimes Secondary Assists aren't crap.
 

Lazlo Hollyfeld

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Watch the lowly Secondary Assist on the 4 on 3 PP goal from Kucherov. That entire play is made by Stamkos. Sometimes Secondary Assists aren't crap.

I didn't mean to make it sound like I was completely dismissing secondary assists. Just that for a player like Stamkos a secondary assist on a 4-on-3 (even with the nice little move to draw players to him) is not nearly as positive a sign as even strength goals would be.
 

zeykshade

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I didn't mean to make it sound like I was completely dismissing secondary assists. Just that for a player like Stamkos a secondary assist on a 4-on-3 (even with the nice little move to draw players to him) is not nearly as positive a sign as even strength goals would be.

Hehe, after watching him all year, it is a pretty big sign. More an indication of how badly he's played this year. His decision making has been the problem. There may be something physically wrong with him as well, but the mental part of the game has been awful for the most part.

It's caused his confidence to wane and then it starts the negative feedback loop. Low Confidence begets Tentative Second Guessing Hockey begets Mistakes begets Low Confidence.

He's not out of the woods and 5 on 5 scoring is the next step(even with those linemates). I just hope that Drouin gets some shifts with him in Games 3 and 4 at home where last change will help Cooper shield Drouin.
 

DFC

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I didn't mean to make it sound like I was completely dismissing secondary assists. Just that for a player like Stamkos a secondary assist on a 4-on-3 (even with the nice little move to draw players to him) is not nearly as positive a sign as even strength goals would be.

I'd rather see his goals and assists be the result of good play, as they were last night. The issue with Stamkos for most of the year, even at times when he was scoring pretty well, was his overall play left a lot to be desired. Horrific decisions. And it was never so much that he was not scoring, but it was more that he didn't even look dangerous. Last night he was probably our most consistently dangerous player. I think that's all we're really asking for.
 

Lazlo Hollyfeld

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Hehe, after watching him all year, it is a pretty big sign. More an indication of how badly he's played this year. His decision making has been the problem. There may be something physically wrong with him as well, but the mental part of the game has been awful for the most part.

It's caused his confidence to wane and then it starts the negative feedback loop. Low Confidence begets Tentative Second Guessing Hockey begets Mistakes begets Low Confidence.

He's not out of the woods and 5 on 5 scoring is the next step(even with those linemates). I just hope that Drouin gets some shifts with him in Games 3 and 4 at home where last change will help Cooper shield Drouin.

I didn't see a ton of him this regular season but have heard several Lightning fans talk about how bad he was.

What exactly is the theory on what's going on with Stamkos? He says he's healthy. Is it between the ears? How he's being utilized?

Though I'd love for the Wings to have a guy who puts up 40 goals while playing badly. :cry:
 

DFC

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I didn't see a ton of him this regular season but have heard several Lightning fans talk about how bad he was.

What exactly is the theory on what's going on with Stamkos? He says he's healthy. Is it between the ears? How he's being utilized?

Though I'd love for the Wings to have a guy who puts up 40 goals while playing badly. :cry:

Pretty much the one good thing about Stammer this year is, thankfully, he's a guy who can score 40 in his sleep. Because he looked like he slept through most of the year.

In terms of production, I'd put some of that on his linemates. Stamkos never did seem to adapt to a more cycle-based game, leading to the aforementioned bad decisions (although they came in all three zones), but there's also the fact that his linemates aren't guys who are going to spot him in the slot in that split second when he does get free and clear.
 

Ishdul

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Hey look, Stamkos had 7 points in 6 games against the team that let in the fewest goals this year. Weird!
 

The Red Line

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Is anyone going to give credit to the wings defensive forwards for doing what they do and shutting him down, or is he still "injured"?
 

DanZ

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Is anyone going to give credit to the wings defensive forwards for doing what they do and shutting him down, or is he still "injured"?

The Wings know how to shutdown an elite offensive player. They've been doing it for decades, even with the bad defensive unit they have now. It shouldn't come as a surprise.
 

joe89

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This is the funny bit about judging players as being good or not in the playoffs, or comparing players on different teams based on playoff stats. Such a small sample. If Tampa loses G7 against Detroit people are all over Stamkos the entire summer. But they proceed and he caches fire, and he's alright again.

Regular season is where you judge players fairly. If they fail 3-4-5 playoffs in a row you might have a point, but it's still only small samples put together and one extra round can make things look very different in a hurry.
 

The Macho King

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Is anyone going to give credit to the wings defensive forwards for doing what they do and shutting him down, or is he still "injured"?

I think it's a combination of factors - Stamkos himself clearly didn't look good that series, but I was hopeful Stamkos would be better simply because as a forward group, they don't have a ton of great defensive players. For all the hype, Pacioretty isn't shutting anyone down, and Plekanec is good for faceoffs and not much else. Detroit plays a stifling team defense with very few mistakes.
 

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Irrespective of how his 'general play' has been this year, from an outsider perspective this thread is ludicrous
 

Nathaniel

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Irrespective of how his 'general play' has been this year, from an outsider perspective this thread is ludicrous

For a player of his caliber those numbers are not amazing
 

TheGoldenJet

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This is the funny bit about judging players as being good or not in the playoffs, or comparing players on different teams based on playoff stats. Such a small sample. If Tampa loses G7 against Detroit people are all over Stamkos the entire summer. But they proceed and he caches fire, and he's alright again.

Regular season is where you judge players fairly. If they fail 3-4-5 playoffs in a row you might have a point, but it's still only small samples put together and one extra round can make things look very different in a hurry.

Nah, it's a enough of a sample size. Each round is a 7 game series where you are supposed to bring your best game, rather than a one-off fluke game. You can tell a lotabout a player based on how they perform in the playoffs.
 

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