TheBigKahuna
Well-known member
Awful special teams do it again.
GDT: Canes at Tampa 10/16 ... 7:30 Eastern
- Thread starter jeffbear
- Start date
HurryCanes
Well-known member
Tampa was darn suffocating in those last few minutes. That’s what a cup contender looks like. Mrazek was ok IMHO, we just weren’t generating quality chances on them. The lack of a third center is obvious in a game like tonight. Not a bad effort. Onward.
Yeah... We won 5 on 5 2-1 and lost special teams 0-2... Heck we lost our power play 0-1.
Hard to be awful on special teams and beat a top tier team.
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
Awful special teams indeed and two games in a row of a backup goalie looking like the second coming of Terry Sawchuk. Fix that bloody power play quick.
Special teams are their Achilles heel. Until they’re fixed, we’re not going anywhere.
ThinIce
Well-known member
Hell, I'd be happy just to see us fix the PK. I thought we looked pretty good on Tampa's chance, until deHann muffed his clear. He played pretty well otherwise, but that one cost us. It was a hard-fought game. Disappointing road trip, but we were competitive. Hopefully, we'll get better.
TheBigKahuna
Well-known member
There's one huge factor in the last several years of piss poor power plays.
Based on the last 2 games, where we've been in the game but came up short, against top level competition, what adjustments do you think should be considered...
Obviously improvement is needed on special teams, and it seems like they should have several practices to work on that the next few days.
Do you make any moves 5 on 5? Or do you chalk up the last 2 to good efforts on the road against top shelf competition and see if that effort translates into a better result against less elite teams before making any adjustments?
88 seems to be a tough fit for our current mix. Fleury needs to get in some games.
Maybe try 88 in Teuvo's slot on Aho's wing? But then you'd need to bring up a C, and who's the extra?
Obviously improvement is needed on special teams, and it seems like they should have several practices to work on that the next few days.
Do you make any moves 5 on 5? Or do you chalk up the last 2 to good efforts on the road against top shelf competition and see if that effort translates into a better result against less elite teams before making any adjustments?
88 seems to be a tough fit for our current mix. Fleury needs to get in some games.
Maybe try 88 in Teuvo's slot on Aho's wing? But then you'd need to bring up a C, and who's the extra?
TheBigKahuna
Well-known member
I'd get Faulk and Tuevo off the points in the powerplay. Neither is worth a damn there.
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
No issues with the start and the work ethic and compete of this team so far, and just for constructive discussion, here are a few things that seem to need a tweak.
TVR needs to sit more and let Fleury have a real chance to play...not a game here or there, several in a row.
Hamilton needs to be better, he has been just ok, I really was expecting more from him, you can see the elite ability to join the rush and he has a big shot but he just needs to do more.
I love the skill of Necas, maybe for now, he needs to play the wing with less responsibility in his defensive assignments.
The extra roster spot is open for now, but once Darling returns, do the Canes keep 3 goalies for a bit or cut one loose?
The one interesting tidbit in the media that still seems to smolder with the Canes is the real interest in William Nylander. If it's a month from now and Nylander is still unsigned, would the Canes and Leafs be able to get together and make a Nylander for a right shot D trade? Nylander as an option at center would still be enticing for the Canes.
I mean ... there's a reason he's been a backup for most of his career. This and the fact that he's randomly WAY too aggressive.
Here's the thing ... Carolina lost two hard fought games in a row, on the road, against two of the best teams in the NHL. Forgive me if I'm not all that upset about that. And yeah, the special teams have been an issue all season. Did you expect them to get well on the road against THOSE teams? C'mon now. I hope Brindy gets a handle on some answers on the kill and the power play. I really do. But we're playing a really good brand of hockey, even against the better teams in the league, so ... yeah. Work on that stuff, but keep doing what you're doing otherwise.
Circling back to the Necas conversation of yesterday ... it was nice to see the kid get a goal, but honestly his level of play wasn't any different than it had been for the last few games. He's a gifted player, he's going to notch some points eventually, but the underlying issues are still there and his line still isn't pulling its weight.
Circling back to the Necas conversation of yesterday ... it was nice to see the kid get a goal, but honestly his level of play wasn't any different than it had been for the last few games. He's a gifted player, he's going to notch some points eventually, but the underlying issues are still there and his line still isn't pulling its weight.
Elsker
Well-known member
I'm fine with where they are overall. Special teams obviously a big issue but assume that's easier to fix than compete level or something intangible.
Three games in four days with the last two against Stanley-Cup level teams rested and at home. Both essentially one-goal wins with empty netters providing the two-goal margin of victory. If we had ANY degree of special team prowess both of those games would have resulted in at least a point if not a road victory.
Both of the last two teams are excellent on the power play, so maybe penalty kill is not as weak as it seems. Ditto on their penalty kill abilities which made our power play look even worse than it is.
Power play failure seems to be a combination of wrong personnel as Brind'Amour keeps riding the vets including putting Staal out there to win face-offs. But he's just not going to contribute much more than that to a PP unit.
In preseason what seemed to be working was putting Hamilton and Faulk out with Aho's line to make them cover both points leaving Aho's line to work 3-on-2 down low. Second unit then had Slavin to cover for turnovers and the end of the PP with more action from the sidewall.
Believe that combination of different styles for the two PP units confused defenders a bit when we switched and was therefore even more effective. Not sure what in the heck is going on now other than letting Faulk take every one of our shots for one unit while the other simply seems to be marking time until the PP is over.
Need some thinking from the coaches, some video work for the players, and lots of practice drills. But, again, I'm fine with where they are, especially with so many new faces on the roster. Good bunch.
To be clear, I'm very happy with what they've been able to do thus far...
On the issue of stuff on the To-Do List ... frankly, I'd start on the kill. That's a lot more basic and fundamental, plus you get the benefit of working on the power play at the same time ... since you need a decent PP unit to put your kill under some pressure. We're running around too much and not disciplined enough in maintaining our zonal coverage. That stuff is fairly easy to fix and will generally improve with work. And if the kill was 20% better, there'd be less pressure on everything else.
Bottom line though ... there's no reason for panic at this point. Fix some little things and build from there. My real concerns (center, goaltending) can't be addressed with practice, but some stuff can. Do that.
Bottom line though ... there's no reason for panic at this point. Fix some little things and build from there. My real concerns (center, goaltending) can't be addressed with practice, but some stuff can. Do that.
JFG
Well-known member
I think the shine has come off the Canes a bit from this roadie and some weaknesses have become clear.
Fleury, TVR are still weak defenders.
Faulk is still a mess.
3rd Line needs to get bigger and play stronger.
PK needs to keep it simple and forget stretch passes for the shorties.
PP has good possession time, but needs to do what all good PP's do and bury the weak side one timers.
Oh and I am pleasantly surprised with our goalie tandem. They are keeping us in games when our D gets sloppy.
Fleury, TVR are still weak defenders.
Faulk is still a mess.
3rd Line needs to get bigger and play stronger.
PK needs to keep it simple and forget stretch passes for the shorties.
PP has good possession time, but needs to do what all good PP's do and bury the weak side one timers.
Oh and I am pleasantly surprised with our goalie tandem. They are keeping us in games when our D gets sloppy.
I understand that point of view, but honestly ... all that stuff was right there for everyone to see right from game one. They were just able to battle through the issues against teams that weren't exactly the level of competition you get from Winnipeg and Tampa. So long as they the compete level right where it's been (including the last two games), then I'm not going to ask for a refund or anything. The roster is still deeply flawed, and will remain so while the kids continue to grow up and we fill in the holes around them.
ThinIce
Well-known member
Despite the miserable results, I don't think we're too far off on the PP and in fact didn't look all that bad. It may have been our last PP, but when Zykov was menacing around the net, I thought it increased our chance to score, as he occupied the goalie's and a defenseman's attention. Keep doing that and also work on quick passes and rotating bodies so that we're not constantly in the same position.
The PK is more troubling, but again, fixable.
The PK is more troubling, but again, fixable.
SlapShots
Well-known member
The Hurricanes have had 25 powerplay chances and have scored only two goals-- this is the 2nd worst in the east with 8% (puts us at 28 in the league). Toronto's powerplay is the best in the league. I could better handle the problems with the PP if the PK wasn't just as bad at 24th in the league. If the Canes want special teams to be at 100%, we are woefully inadequate at 85.5%.
