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GDT: Canes v. Canucks 10/9 7:00

Foegele is just tenacious on the puck and fun to watch. He is not out of place here. Loved seeing him on the breakaway with Staal, just wished they had converted. I suspect there will be more of that this season. Right now, Foegele is under the radar, but not for long!
 
Nice crowd at the PNC on a Tuesday night against a western Canadian team. It wasn't our best game, but this team doesn't know when to quit. My fear about PDG was confirmed. He was sent to the woodshed, which will give Zykov another shot at getting back on the ice. I feel Hamilton will come around, but right now he looks lost out there. Maybe he'll sit a game or two, too.

But if you told me that just a few games into the season and the Canes would be leading the entire NHL in points, I would have called you crazy. It won't last, but it sure feels good right now, doesn't it?
 
@Minnesota, @Winnipeg, @Tampa for the next 3. That is going to give us a better indication of what we really have here with this team.

Foegele actually gets talked about a lot. The NHL XM radio guys gush about him all the time, even before the season started. With him being Canadian and taking the path he did to the NHL, he is a story for his home country. Add the way he is playing, in both preseason and now these first 4 games, he gets talked about a lot by the 'pundits'. Deservedly so.
 
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@Minnesota, @Winnipeg, @Tampa for the next 3. That is going to give us a better indication of what we really have here with this team.

Foegele actually gets talked abour a lot. The NHL XM radio guys gush about him all the time, even before the season started. With him being Canadian and taking the path he did to the NHL, he is a story for his home country. Add the way he is playing, in both preseason and now these first 4 games, he gets talked about a lot by the 'pundits'. Deservedly so.

A lot of the pundits called him a sleeper in the 2014 Draft, coming out of high school rather than Major Junior, or even the provincial Junior A organization.
 
All this without a productive power play. Boy, if that ever starts clicking, we'll really be on the verge of something.
 
Can't fault McElhinney on two of those goals. Faulk tipped one in, and I think Slavin had the other?

Yes, two tip ins by the D are not goals most goalies are ever going to stop. We have all said "if this team even gets slightly above average goaltending" they would be fine...I have found McElhinney to be just that after two games.
 
A lot of the pundits called him a sleeper in the 2014 Draft, coming out of high school rather than Major Junior, or even the provincial Junior A organization.

When RF drafted Foegele, a lot of GMs liked the pick-- was the type of player you should take a flyer on and getting him in the 3rd round was a bit of a reach but the Canes picked a guy they liked. This is a kid that has been properly developed and allowed to mature.

Too bad RF couldn't muster the courage to make a trade, but his draft picks right now are looking good.
 
Still perfect when I am at the game.. That was fun. All but 2 goals in my end. (too many Vancouver ones though)
 
That first Canucks goal was just about unstoppable for most goalies. McElhinney's effort there was exceptional, the counter move to score the goal despite McElhinney's effort was even better.
 
Thoughts:

Foegele ... this is not really a shock, guys ... anybody painting it as such is just engaging in PR hype. Foegele was considered a bit of a steal at the position he was drafted, then proceeded to be a core player on a Memorial Cup runner-up once his game really blossomed after he went back to junior (on a team with Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome) ... and voted MVP of the Mem Cup that year. He followed that up with a VERY good rookie year in the AHL, playing a major role on the Checkers right out of the gate. He's the real deal and this higher pressure style suits his game to a tee. I've said this before but we're playing a LOT like the way Erie played when they won the OHL in Foegele's last junior year and he looks to be very comfortable out there. He's also got two veteran line mates, which never hurts.

Defense ... I thought Fleury was better than TVR had been on that third pairing. He's still got a lot of work to do on gap control and picking up on stuff before it happens rather than reacting, but he was decent. More importantly, he was decent enough that Pesce was able to settle in and actually do his job on the other side ... and got rewarded with a goal. Nice. Overall though, we've still got a LOT of work to do on D. It's such a young group, I guess that's what you expect. I did think deHaan played his best game as a Cane, so he looks to be settling in a bit. Slavin was terrific, and looks to be figuring out how to play off of Hamilton a bit better. I think this group will settle in and start to look more cohesive over time.

PDG ... did anybody hear if he got dinged up, because if not he got benched in the 3rd. Which was fine by me because he was tentative and generally awful in the first two periods. Once he was out of the mix, Necas actually started to stand out on a few shifts, which tells me that the young center is really being ill served by his line mates thus far. I mean, no shock there ... he's a slippery juke machine centering a couple of A to B grinders. That's not exactly a classic recipe for success.

Weirdly enough, that "fourth line" with Wallmark centering Matinook and Svechnikov is starting to develop an identity. Martinook is creating general havoc with his effort level while Svetch is just hard to play against period. And Wallmark is starting to find the pockets of space creating by the other two. It's a weird line, but so far a pretty good one.

Aho's comfort level at center is starting to grow. That guy was bloody everywhere last night. Swooping in at speed from all over the place to support his wingers in the corners, holding his own defensively, deflecting a million passes and flipping to offense on a dime ... just being a general pain in the butt for Vancouver.

Lastly ... Pettersson. Good gracious, the hands on that kid, and the vision. He's seriously good. Thin, but so very good.
 
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I usually always say "bet on the birthday boy", but PDG didn't have such a great birthday.

He did indeed become glued to the bench in the third after that late second-period penalty, his second personal of the night (slashing and interference). Lowest TOI (6:04) by far although Necas was also limited to 8:17 although 1:14 of that was PP.

Believe they were double-shifting Aho and Teravainen among others to give Necas some additional minutes in the third period, but fourth line effectively was field-promoted to the third line duties and minutes.
 
Believe they were double-shifting Aho and Teravainen among others to give Necas some additional minutes in the third period, but fourth line effectively was field-promoted to the third line duties and minutes.

Aho, Turbo, Wallmark and IIRC Martinook all took a shift or two with the Necas line at some point in the third. And Necas took at least one shift at wing on another line too ... maybe at the tail end of a longish shift. Aho went out there first and it was early on in the 3rd. That's why I even noticed in the first place.
 
I thought Brindy got a little peeved over PDG taking a penalty

It reminded me of that famous Wild Bill Peters quote about him "wielding the ice time hammer"...the problem with Wild Bill was that he never did swing that hammer...Brindy has already shown with his scratches after 4 games that he means business and I expect Zykov back in and PDG out in Minny.
 
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