Playoff GDT: Stanley Cup Final Game 2 Canes v. Vegas 6/4 8:00
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ThinIce
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Don't care how....just win.
Pucking Lamplighter
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Let's GO top line and #1 PP unit!
Jim
Jim
Fayettenamcanesfan
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TheBigKahuna
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This is a must win game. No two ways about it. Let's recover, and control the tempo.
Fayettenamcanesfan
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Just finish the way they started and they will win.
I’ve talked a lot during this post season about various teams refusing or being unable to play the way you need to play to beat the Hurricanes. Yeah, you can also beat them the way Montreal did in Game 1 of that series, but mesmerizing a team into playing like crap is tougher than it looks. Vegas didn’t do that. They got down and dirty and played bumper car hockey with Carolina. They were patient in the offensive zone, they won wall battles and extended shifts to force Carolina’s D to gut out tough minutes in their D Zone. The Canes saw a little bit of this from Ottawa, who were the only prior opponent who could match Vegas’ physicality, but Ottawa is too dumb and poorly disciplined to really stick to the plan. They kept defusing their own bomb with risky passes and quick shots. Vegas, not so much. Torts went to school on 2024 Florida footage, it would seem. Smart choice.
The thing is, even with Vegas playing the exact right way and executing really well in Game 1 … after the 1st period when they looked a bit lost … and Carolina making enough bad decisions with the puck for an entire month of games, it was still a one goal game that came down to a desperate block from Mitch Marner. If Marner doesn’t risk the structural integrity of his knee to get a piece of that Nikishin slapper, that game probably goes deep into the night and turns into a test of conditioning. So, if you’re the Canes, while you have to be frustrated to be down 0-1 at home AGAIN, you kind of also have to feel like you’ve got this. Manage the puck better, be a bit less reactive getting into puck battles, layer up a little better and you are where you need to be. It’s not like this challenge wasn’t coming. It’s just wearing Vegas jerseys instead of Florida jerseys … and it doesn’t have an in form Goalie Bob in net. Brind’Amour hinted at this in his press availability yesterday when he talked about his view of Game 1, but a lot of people seemed to think he was just shoring up the boys.
The thing is, even with Vegas playing the exact right way and executing really well in Game 1 … after the 1st period when they looked a bit lost … and Carolina making enough bad decisions with the puck for an entire month of games, it was still a one goal game that came down to a desperate block from Mitch Marner. If Marner doesn’t risk the structural integrity of his knee to get a piece of that Nikishin slapper, that game probably goes deep into the night and turns into a test of conditioning. So, if you’re the Canes, while you have to be frustrated to be down 0-1 at home AGAIN, you kind of also have to feel like you’ve got this. Manage the puck better, be a bit less reactive getting into puck battles, layer up a little better and you are where you need to be. It’s not like this challenge wasn’t coming. It’s just wearing Vegas jerseys instead of Florida jerseys … and it doesn’t have an in form Goalie Bob in net. Brind’Amour hinted at this in his press availability yesterday when he talked about his view of Game 1, but a lot of people seemed to think he was just shoring up the boys.
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CanadaCanes
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Paging First Line, Paging First Line...please pick up the nearest courtesy phone, urgent call awaits!
TheBigKahuna
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I wonder how much Vegas knows about injuries, if injuries really are plaguing the Aho line. Because they hammered those bpys on the 1st period. Enough to make them second guess puck retrieval and looking for clean passes.