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GDT - Third time's the chime | 7:30PM SNET

Impressed Sid managed to get 2 points tonight with Hughson hanging off his nutsack.

**** that guy is painful to listen to
 
LeafGm said:
C'mon, really?

Or maybe the NHL's just a hard league to play in, and even a top-10 talent isn't going to look like a world-beater every night.
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Look at his last 3 to 4 games, not basing it on his lack of production. Watch how he skates, stick handles etc. To me it looks like he has some sort of nagging problem
 
Killer93 said:
Look at his last 3 to 4 games, not basing it on his lack of production. Watch how he skates, stick handles etc. To me it looks like he has some sort of nagging problem
Click to expand...
I'm sure he has some of the regular bumps and bruises that are part of every NHL season, but I haven't seen any indication it's anything more. We've just been playing some pretty tough, structured teams, and Kessel hasn't had the puck a whole hell of a lot. Part of the problem is the pussy-soft 1st line Carlyle's fallen back into using. I'd like to see Carlyle put someone who can actually win some puck battles back on Kessel's line.
 
Moral victory is such an overused term in sports, but there are indeed plenty of positives in this one:

- PIT averages 31.4 shots per 60, and we allowed them to 26 shots in 60+OT... this is without Polak who has been our 2nd most reliable defenseman this year too, so this is definitely an achievement
- It's a come from behind win, where we were down 0-2 after 20 and most would have thought the night's over against the eastern powerhouse, but the team showed plenty of fight and scratched and crawled for at least 1 point
- the Kadri line was dynamite last night. They hit, they scored, they defended well .. all 3 of them were positive at the end of the game (where as our 1st line was terrible)
- Kadri and Bozak were in #87's face all night long. Even Bozak was chirping at Crosby, getting in his face, never backed down and went toe to toe with him. I love that "I'm not gonna take any crap from you and I don't care who you are." attitude

Now, the bad ...
- Bernier was just not very good last night ... he completely misplayed the first goal, say all you want about Rielly not tieing up Comeau in front, but when your goalie is not even facing the front ...
- Giving up the first goal in the first shift is always bad news, and this is the 4th time this season alone Bernier has given up a goal in the first 2 min of the game
- JVR and Kessel were completely invisible last night
- Lupul and Booth, first game back obviously, but were also invisible
- Holzer actually had a good night imo, but Robidas has been pretty bad for some time

Overall, I don't have a big problem with this loss, let's hope we get 2 points in the next one ...
 
It's time to shake up the lines, especially since Booth and Lupul being back give us other options, and allows us to ice a pretty competitive fourth line.

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the keys should be breaking up our first line. They've had some success in the past, because they're all very skilled players, but they all bring too much of the same dimension. I also like Kessel and Bozak a lot more when they're not playing with each other. Something like this would be nice:

Leo Komarov - Nazem Kadri - Phil Kessel
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mike Santorelli
Joffrey Lupul - Peter Holland - David Clarkson
David Booth - Daniel Winnik - Richard Panik

That's three pretty balanced scoring lines, with good combinations of skill and grit. The fourth line's got potential too; Panik's got 4 goals for us, on only 16 shots and with pretty minimal ice-time. I think he deserves to be in the lineup more than Trevor Smith, and I think that's a line that can be trusted to play 8-10 minutes a night, like our fourth line last night. Winnik is also pretty much interchangeable with Santorelli in that lineup, depending on how each is filling their respective role.
 
Komo - Kadri - Kessel
Vanryk - Bozak - Lupul
Booth - Holland - Santo
Panik - Winnik - Clarkson
 
It was a terrible start and they battled back to get a point against one of the top teams in the league. They are starting to turn the corner and focus on the right things. They just need to keep doing what they are doing, and no revert to old bad habits, and they will continue to get stronger as the season goes along.

We've seen some real encouraging stuff the last couple of weeks from this team.

We've seen completely different reactions to the 18 wheeler going off of a cliff media driven insanity after those tough games in the past. They are starting to buy in.
 
zeke said:
oh we need a gif of kadri and bernier playing tandem goalie.
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v9Nn6N.gif
 
Yep, that's the Kadri I like to see. That was a fantastic hit, and he's been throwing a lot of them lately.
 
LeafGm said:
It's time to shake up the lines, especially since Booth and Lupul being back give us other options, and allows us to ice a pretty competitive fourth line.

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the keys should be breaking up our first line. They've had some success in the past, because they're all very skilled players, but they all bring too much of the same dimension. I also like Kessel and Bozak a lot more when they're not playing with each other. Something like this would be nice:

Leo Komarov - Nazem Kadri - Phil Kessel
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mike Santorelli
Joffrey Lupul - Peter Holland - David Clarkson
David Booth - Daniel Winnik - Richard Panik

That's three pretty balanced scoring lines, with good combinations of skill and grit. The fourth line's got potential too; Panik's got 4 goals for us, on only 16 shots and with pretty minimal ice-time. I think he deserves to be in the lineup more than Trevor Smith, and I think that's a line that can be trusted to play 8-10 minutes a night, like our fourth line last night. Winnik is also pretty much interchangeable with Santorelli in that lineup, depending on how each is filling their respective role.
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Yeah I like that.

But Carlyle is too stubborn to even breakup his 1st line, never mind changing all of the other lines
 
zeke said:
Komo - Kadri - Kessel
Vanryk - Bozak - Lupul
Booth - Holland - Santo
Panik - Winnik - Clarkson
Click to expand...

I was thinking of moving Komarov to the first line. He has shown enough skill on any line this year. If there was a player on this team deserved of a line promotion it would be Komarov.
 
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