Well … let’s preview the Stanley Cup Finals, I guess. Carolina/Vegas, Series starts June 2

[GEEMAN]

One thing to watch for .. it took Vegas 3 or 4 games to figure out how to slow down Anaheim, and they never really did slow down Utah. Vegas won that series because Utah’s defense fell apart more than anything. People keep talking about Colorado’s speed, but that only really exists on their top line … unless somebody wants to convince me that Kadri, Nelson, Burns and Manson are fast. So this idea that Vegas has this ability to slow the game down against faster teams is kind of built on sand. I’m not saying that they won’t be able to frustrate Carolina, but the Canes are a LOT better than Utah and Anaheim, both of whom gave Vegas fits but didn’t have the depth to be anything more than troublesome.

Another thing to watch for … both teams have proven that Game 1 is a crapshoot. Vegas takes a bit to calibrate to the opponent and Carolina tends to run hot early. I wouldn’t get too excited about a Game 1 result one way or the other in this one.

My buddy is a huge Andersen back from the Leaf days

He says he deserves no blame on any goals against in game 1 , which I disagreed on at least one of them

Thoughts ?

 

[cmaleski2]

I wouldn't call any of the 5 goals Vegas scored in game 1 "leaky", but I also would like my goalie to make a big save on at least one of them. I assume of the 5 goals, the Barbashev goal is one you think Freddie should have stopped?

 

[jeffbear]

My buddy is a huge Andersen back from the Leaf days

He says he deserves no blame on any goals against in game 1 , which I disagreed on at least one of them

Thoughts ?

I don’t know how dialed in your buddy is, but Natural Stat Trick is the public stats site I trust the most and they had Freddie at -3 goals saved above expected. Which translates into allowing three more goals than the Knights were expected to score based on shots, shot danger, location and a lot of other factors. That doesn’t look at individual shots though, and that’s how people tend to judge. Personally, I think the game winner was one I wouldn’t have been shocked to see him save (mostly because it was a play that he could have read better), and the Barbashev goal was a nice pass but kind of a pedestrian shot. Neither goalie was particularly good, according to NST’s numbers. I can testify that my eyes agreed with that assessment. But relative to xGA, Freddie was two goals allowed worse than Hart on a night when neither goalie had his fastball.

By the way, those public stats sites aren’t the Bible or anything. They ARE a good way to check your eyes though. Bottom line … I wouldn’t call Game 1 a stinker for Freddie, but he didn’t change anything for the better either. You’d love to see your goalie steal a goal against at some point.

Also, I’m, in no way hanging that loss on Freddie. They ask him to be OK and pay him accordingly. The team let him down, not the other way around. Too many bang/bang chances, too many guys allowed to roll off the boards to the slot. That wasn’t the defense you promised your goalie you’d play.