Dammit. Fire Babcock. Ensure he speaks French (have Rosetta Stone as part of the severance pay…)… Please?
Alternatively, if the Pens would fire Bylsma…same deal.
Trotts?
Bueller?
Anyone?
This was the third game this series where Jordan Staal was the best player on the ice. He deserves to play huge minutes the next game. He’s been really great.
If I were a Pens fan, I’d be at least a little annoyed that they can play so well the last two days but were a disaster for most of the first three games.
Sure is an interesting series…
You don’t think Marc-Andre Fleury deserves a nod?
It is a very interesting (and nervewracking) series. As a Pens fan, they’re giving me high blood pressure. Ugh. I really wish that at the end of the game with a lead there would be a bit more of a forecheck rather than just trying to chip the puck out and play D. It worked tonight, but it was a shooting gallery as a result. Keep the pressure on, please! (I’m not saying the D needs to pinch or anything, but at least try and hold the blue line).
Anyway, this series has had three massive blowouts and two close games. Remember that game 1 went to OT and were it not for a blatantly missed offside call, the Pens would be up 3-2. But that’s how the puck bounces… Both teams have been playing possessed hockey. I’d imagine it’s amazingly entertaining if you aren’t a fan of either team, but for those of us invested, it’s just torture.
As the best player on the ice? I’m still not that crazy about the rebounds he gives up but he has been pretty solid the last two games, sure. Staal seems to completely dominate the ice when he plays.
Comparing goalies to skaters is tough though. It’s why they have their own trophies.
I respectfully disagree with your assessment. The Wings lack the offensive talent to win big. The objective of hockey is to score more goals than the other team, and you can’t do that when you don’t have good forwards. Our team didn’t have a single 30 goal scorer this year. The highest goal total went to Franzen, who is the streakiest player in the world can’t can’t be relied upon in the playoffs. After him, our second-highest goal scorer is Hudler FFS. You can’t win a championship when your goal scoring is spearheaded by Hudler and Franzen.
The Wings need to re-tool a lot, but I think these playoffs actually closed a lot of doors. I don’t see Suter wanting to sign with us after beating us so thoroughly and seeing what a stagnant team the Wings have become over the course of the last three years. I think that door is closed, and Holland will need to find some other way of plugging the defensive holes. I think the best remaining option for us is Semin. He’s got a great shot and a ton of offensive talent. I don’t care what his attitude problems are, or how his work ethic is. He can shoot, and we need that desperately. For that reason, I’m rooting strongly against the caps the rest of the way through so that he doesn’t see signing with the Wings as a downward transition.
No matter what, we need to plug holes on offense. When you have the Preds, Blues, and Coyotes in your conference, you aren’t going to win by throwing a bunch of ten goal scorers at the net.
C’mon, Flyers! You’re halfway there to completing the choke job! Keep up the good work!
Phoenix Coyote Raffi Torres has been suspended 25 games by the NHL for his hit on Hossa in Game 3.
While I’m fine with that decision, it just kind of reinforces how utterly random Shanahan’s decisions are. :smack:
I didn’t follow the Wings much this season, but I think it’s interesting that they didn’t have a single 30-goal scorer this year, yet made the playoffs. The Habs had two (Cole and Pacioretty), and yet were last in the conference.
Just goes to show how you really need an entire team to come together and win - you can’t win with just goal scorers, you can’t win with just defence, you can’t win with just goaltending. Having a great PK doesn’t mean much if your PP is anemic. Winning games by a ton of goals doesn’t mean much if you lose more by only one goal, etc.
Also, I laughed when Malkin took out Crosby last night. I really hope Crosby doesn’t suffer from it, but it was a rather bizarre thing to see (the beer may have contributed to the laughing). It prompted a pub debate over who is most likely to be shipped out of town one day - Malkin, Crosby or Staal. I don’t think we reached any conclusion, other than to agree that Staal would look damn good wearing the CH. But then again, so would the other two. 
This is a fine decision on its own, but the problem with these decisions is that they’re utterly random. If going forward they get serious about it, great. If on the other hand a variety of elbows, head-slams and one-sided-punchfests go unpunished, then it’s purely a PR stunt.
That the Wings lost because they didn’t score more goals than the other team is so obvious that it doesn’t need to be said. The questions are how are they going to either score more goals or keep the other team from scoring.
You aren’t going to win by simply throwing tons of shots on net. The Wings did that this series and nearly every other playoff series prior. Remarkable pattern that. Wings outshoot opponents eleventy bajillion to four and still lose the game 3-1. Clearly not a solution.
If the opponent can walk up to your net and pop in a free one because your forwards are out of position, coasting back into position, or waiting at the blue line for a hail mary pass, you aren’t going to score more goals. You may score goals, but not more. You may not even score goals at all. Spot the other team a goal or two and they can just strangle you with defense, keeping you from getting any quality scoring chances. Yeah you may fire a ton of low percentage shots on goal, but as we saw they don’t amount to much.
Detroit couldn’t score more goals than Nashville because they defended better than Detroit did. Simple as that. This was made easy by Detroit’s rather stagnant offense (big guy in front and shots from predictable angles). That’s not a problem you address by signing a player. Defense or offense. It won’t matter. Suter won’t solve anything if the rest of the team believes defense is optional. Semin won’t solve anything if he refuses to backcheck and is simply shooting from the blue line or the face off circles time after time.
Even firing Babcock might not be enough, but it’s easier than firing a team. Easier than attempting to trade Franzen, whose streaky production will make it difficult to get a quality player even given his favorable top heavy contract.
Yeah. It is easy to suspend a guy like Torres for 25 games but as long as there is a double standard Shanahan will come across as a joke.
And for a minute, just look at other lengthy suspensions. Dale Hunter got 21 games for his really late, really cheap hit on Turgeon. Chris Simon got 30 games for stomping on Rutuus’ ankle. While Torres did leave his feet, I don’t think his hit was anywhere in the same category as those two incidents. Then there is the whole Shea Weber debacle. If crushing a head into the boards so hard it cracks a helmet is only worth a $2500 fine…well I don’t know what to think anymore. I just know that the optimism I had when Shanahan first started has waned significantly.
Typing from my phone, so this will be short. Defense is something you can teach a team. It’s something that can be coached and doesn’t rely on talent. Just look at Phoenix as an example of a team that plays good defense without much top end talent. Goal scoring is different. To beat a modern goalie you need a good shooter. Detroit forwards simply don’t have that talent. I watch them try and flub, try again and miss the net, etc. That’s why a personnel upgrade on offense is mandatory. A system of play won’t teach the forwards to shoot better.
Another one goal difference in the Caps-Bruins series. The only two goal lead in the series lasted less than three minutes.
I told my son that the first task when we get there tomorrow is to find the nearest AED to our section.
I’d ask what the heck an AED is but a quick google search showed it to be a defibrillator of some sort.
Please speak in English not acronyms. 
Ok. Wilco.
I think it’s totally fair. The Hawks lose one of their top forwards for likely the playoffs, and the Coyotes lose an easily replaceable fourth line bench warmer for 25 games. Way to go NHL. The playoffs have become an exercise in blatant hostility.
Maybe they should start suspending coaches for 25 games or fining the owners.
If a good coach can teach defense, why are the Wings having such consistent problems unless it proves my point that Babcock should get bounced? Also Nashville just proved that you can beat a modern goaltender with enough time and space to place your shot properly. Nothing to do with being a good shooter.
While I agree,
- Torres is an extreme repeat offender, which justifiably meant a longer suspension and
- The NHL is ostensibly more serious about head shots than it used to be.
So fine. If from this point on suspensions are proportional to this one, I’ll be happy. But as you point out, it’s difficult to believe that’s going to be the case when just a week ago, Shea Weber was okay pulling as cheap a stunt as you’ll ever see. Should Weber have gotten 25 games? Absolutely not, but a suspension was warranted.
Good lord. Ottawa took an early 1-0 lead and just barely hung on the rest of the game. Nice pass by Mark Stone to set up the goal. A week ago he was playing in juniors.
Anderson was fantastic tonight. 41 save shutout.
One win away from the second round. I’m blown away by this team. I never in a million years would have expected anything from this group coming into the season.
Anderson played 6’x4’ tonight. But if the Sens are going to continue to blow you away, they damn well better do it with Neil out for the remainder.