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GDT: Raleigh @ Buffalo 7:00 pm EST, 12/22/2016

JJFIVEOH

By JJFIVEOH
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hockeyhound First Liner

hockeyhound

Posted
Posted (edited)

CRAP

 

Good Night Everyone.

 

I hope everyone eats, drinks, and has a good time with family and friends over the next couple of weeks.

 

Stay safe.

 

Let's Go Buffalo.

Edited by hockeyhound
woods-racer First Liner

woods-racer

Posted
Posted

Well good night Irene. Merry Christmas to one and all at Sabrespace. My viewing pleasure would not be the same without you all every game. Cheers !

You'll be back tomorrow right?

 

We can all drink MORE tomorrow, and it will be more festive.

 

I promise.

Nitro60 Second Liner

Nitro60

Posted
Posted

I have seen enough of this coach.  His success was borne not coaching up his team but on sheer talent in Pittsburgh.  Dump him and hire Kevin Dineen off the Chicago staff.

Taro T Hall of Famer

Taro T

Posted
Posted

I have seen enough of this coach.  His success was borne not coaching up his team but on sheer talent in Pittsburgh.  Dump him and hire Kevin Dineen off the Chicago staff.

I'd be ok w/ Dineen. Give the fans an early present & can DB tonight, make TM the interim coach & then in the off-season when Dineen is available grab him.
Randall Flagg Hall of Famer

Randall Flagg

Posted
Posted (edited)

This game was supposed to help round out the end of the push against teams around us to spring us into a playoff spot. We’ve looked miserable for the last 4 or 5 games and don’t deserve any of the points we’ve had.

 

Let’s look at the Hurricanes. They’ve been completely devoid of star talent for a while. Over the past two seasons on the forums and the internet in general, I’ve heard about how they’re actually a good possession team that plays solid hockey. They just lack game-breaking talent. I checked it out – both their CF% and FF% were above 50 last season, both were top 12 in the NHL. They were dead last in PDO. This fits what they look like – a team that can play, but can’t score, and that has gotten some terrible tending from Lack and Ward.

 

They’re 7th in CF% this season and 11th in FF% so far this season, but are still second-last in PDO. The PDO is going to climb though, because their first ~12 games were absolutely miserable. They’ve scored more since then, Skinner, Rask, Teravainen, Aho have been playing very well. I’d trade any piece on this team not named ROR/Reinhart/Eichel/Risto for Slavin, and Faulk/Hanifin/Pesce help make a pretty good d-corps.

 

Until they get an Eichel type, they’re going to struggle to score, but Bill Peters has them maximizing everything they can. He knows they have a mobile defensive unit that is green but incredibly talented. He knows their goaltending is suspect. Look at their lineup tonight, at forward. Why is that team absolutely killing us? Why don’t we look like we’re in the same league with the puck, when we have 5 20 goal scorers from last season plus a Moulson and a Gionta who are on that pace this year as well? Carolina had three guys score 20 last year. We can’t make the excuse that their talent is on a different level. Ours is. So what is wrong? Why did we go a SIX MINUTE STRETCH tonight without so much as having a puck on our stick in the offensive zone? They waited for us to chip, forced it otherwise, took the puck, seamlessly got into the zone every time (with soooo much more skill than we have in their lineup, how can we expect that from our guys? /sarcasm) and made us look like idiots. They dominated us. They were playing hockey, and we are stuck in the dead-puck-era.

 

Neutral zone structure, puck support, high percentage plays that generally aim to maintain possession of the puck. That’s how Carolina plays.

 

Tim Murray has brought in Kulikov and Bogosian as top four additions to this team. They play together right now. I think we all know what these two players bring. They can transition the puck and can skate faster than average. They are prone to major lapses in the d-zone. They can hit too, but that’s not relevant to what we’re talking about. We are asking them to do exactly what they are bad at – low percentage, lightning fast decisions. Get the puck up to the evacuated wingers and do it fast and fit it in a tiny window. 99% of the time it doesn’t work and Carolina comes streaking right back in. These two, and McCabe, can skate very well. They don’t get activated in the offensive zone and rarely get involved in neutral zone play. We are using our defensemen for their weaknesses. Tim has to see this. He knows why he acquired these guys and he has to see that his coach doesn’t coach a style conducive to the players he brought in. I’m starting to think that this, combined with the way our team can’t start a game, has started Bylsma’s countdown.

               

I’ve posted this a lot but I’ll do it again because I think it’s having a new effect on our players. We just don’t play hockey between the blue lines like good teams. We’re a decade behind right now. We spend so much time chasing loose pucks and not creating and manipulating space. We intentionally give it up after finally getting it back, hoping that our two LA-style wingers, Kane and Foligno, can get it back. Half of our shifts those guys aren’t even on the ice. Carolina has spent the last 110 games practicing what they do, playing hockey with 5 players on the ice, and they’re getting good at it despite their deficiencies. We’re getting fed up and getting frustrated and sloppy, and look worse and worse. There’s no more confidence in any of these guys with the puck on their sticks. They don’t practice creating and using space, they don’t practice fast decisions to exploit teams that put immediate pressure on the puck-carrier, and they look lost at sea and teams like Carolina know exactly how to handle it. They force the pressure, they get the puck, and they know how to not give it back. This is not a talented team we played, but it sure is a team that knows how to play effective hockey. Our players are starting to know that what they do isn’t working.

 

Disco’s gotta go. I don’t even care that we can’t start on time. I don’t care about line combos. I care about turning Sam into Moulson, about not putting our stars into the positions that other young stars around the league are getting. I’m tired of watching Matthews obliterate all rookies of the past 20 years with unheard of scoring-chance-generation while Jack’s skills are being used dicking around on the boards and wringing pucks back to the point for shots to go into shinpads. I’m tired of his explosive games being called “not how we want to play” and being snuffed out for the ensuing five. And I’m worried that we’re damaging their development curves.

Edited by Randall Flagg
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