GDT: 5/22/21 - 12:30PM EDT - #2CD Florida vs #3CD Tampa Bay [CDSF GAME 4]

[Sky04]

Should be 3-0, could've finished the series early and get extra rest for our injured players but nope.

 

[FinnLightning26]

I don't wanna say it but I'm going to say it.

Must win.

It will be very hard to feel good about this team's chances of winning this series if they up squandering both home games from a 2-0 lead. It's happened before - the Blues were up 2-0 coming home vs. Winnipeg, lost both home games, then won Game 5 away and (finally) Game 6 at home and ultimately went on to the Cup - but it's not going to be a positive situation if that's the situation we find ourselves in. You can't let teams hang around, and this would be the very definition of letting a team hang around.

I agree to an extent but I can't see us lose four of five games after leading 2-0. If we do, we weren't winning the Cup anyway.

 

[JFleegs]

Cause Stephens is even worst than Joseph, he's completely useless at his size, it's Joseph or 7D.

Since when did Stephens become useless? He’s better than Joseph.

 

[DFC]

It's not a must-win. It's a "win to be in full control" situation. If we lose, we need to take a deep gut check, but the series would be far from over.

This team never really got challenged last year because we were head and shoulders the best team in the playoffs. But being challenged is not the same as being crushed.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

I agree to an extent but I can't see us lose four of five games after leading 2-0. If we do, we weren't winning the Cup anyway.

We've lost four in a row in the playoffs before. To the opposing goaltender, in fact. And while I generally agree with the logic you're using, I also feel like that's the kind of stuff we tell ourselves to feel better if (when?) failure occurs. My expectation is that this team - the one with Kucherov and Stamkos in the lineup - should be favored against any team they face, with the only exception of Colorado*. My expectations will reflect that. So losing to anybody else, barring some kind of injury crisis, can only be seen as unacceptable for me, I don't care how it happens.

*This doesn't mean we can't beat them, but the Avs are the most talented team in the NHL. This was true last year as well. It's why I was so relieved when they were eliminated.

 

[DFC]

Since when did Stephens become useless? He’s better than Joseph.

I'm really not seeing how that's true. Joseph paced for 18 goals this year without any PP time. That's pretty solid production for a guy in his spot. Stephens is pretty much the same as Ryan Callahan was in the depths of his decline.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Should be 3-0, could've finished the series early and get extra rest for our injured players but nope.

Thankfully, at least Carolina won't be able to get a sweep of their own. Hopefully Nashville will force them to continue to work for it from here on out, regardless the outcome over here.

 

[Sky04]

Since when did Stephens become useless? He’s better than Joseph.

Since forever? Stephens is abysmal everywhere, there's a reason they didn't bother to play him after he came back from injury. Stephens does nothing but bleed goals against.

 

[DaBolts]

It's sobering to think we have 3 more rounds and 14 more wins to take if we're gonna repeat and Hedman is laboring hard out there. Save us McDonagh

We need the Surge back.

 

[Fabiobest]

We've lost four in a row in the playoffs before. To the opposing goaltender, in fact. And while I generally agree with the logic you're using, I also feel like that's the kind of stuff we tell ourselves to feel better if (when?) failure occurs. My expectation is that this team - the one with Kucherov and Stamkos in the lineup - should be favored against any team they face, with the only exception of Colorado*. My expectations will reflect that. So losing to anybody else, barring some kind of injury crisis, can only be seen as unacceptable for me, I don't care how it happens.

*This doesn't mean we can't beat them, but the Avs are the most talented team in the NHL. This was true last year as well. It's why I was so relieved when they were eliminated.

We've lost 2 in a row twice (against Chicago and Washington)...when the games were really important...so, really, anything is possible.
Today is a must win.
Because the border between a 3-1 lead and a 3-2 lead for Florida (after losing game 5 when, in case, we won't have any kind of momentum) is small...

 

[JFleegs]

Since forever? Stephens is abysmal everywhere, there's a reason they didn't bother to play him after he came back from injury. Stephens does nothing but bleed goals against.

did you watch joseph last game? dude was completely lost in the dzone. His one dimensional offensive instincts have gone out the window too. Stephens is great in faceoffs, a hard forechecker, good along the boards, and solid defensively.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

We've lost 2 in a row twice (against Chicago and Washington)...when the games were really important...so, really, anything is possible.
Today is a must win.
Because the border between a 3-1 lead and a 3-2 lead for Florida (after losing game 5 when, in case, we won't have any kind of momentum) is small...

Pittsburgh as well. It's all we could talk about after losing Game 5 against both the Islanders and Stars. This team has notoriously been shit in close out games in the later rounds of the playoffs. 3-7 record with a chance to win either the Conference Final or SCF since 2015. Multiple 3-2 leads blown. Remember in 2015 how this team didn't lose more than two games in a row all season? Yeah, all the way until the final three games of the season. 27-0-0 record when leading after 2 this season? Nevermind that there were still games where 3rd period leads were blown but the Lightning "won" in 3-on-3 OT or in the shootout - neither which exist in the playoffs and thus hold no basis - but I'm more bothered about how this team struggles to score 3rd period goals in close playoff games. Since last postseason began, we've now had 10 games where we held a 1-goal lead in the third period at any point (with the exception of Game 2 vs. NYI because that lead only needed to be held for 8 seconds). We've only managed to score a third period goal in three of those games. Two of them have actually come in this series, but the goals in Game 1 didn't come until we'd fallen behind. The other game, the lone goal was an ENG. I can talk about how we've blown so many 3rd period leads, but part of it has to do with leaving no margin for error to work with. Trying to defend a 1-goal lead in hockey is the definition of playing with fire. The real miracle is that we haven't gotten burned more often. Most of the blown leads, they managed to win in overtime. The difference between, say, beating Boston 4-1 and trailing 3-2 wasn't much. The difference between leading Dallas 3-2 and trailing them 3-2 wasn't much. The difference between leading 2-1 and trailing 2-1 here isn't much. We're fortunate that things have mostly worked out, but we can't keep relying on the coin landing on heads more often than tails.

 

[Brie]

I'm watching this game away from home so I'll be commenting over my phone so I'm sorry in advance for any errors that might happen due to autocorrect.

Let's go Lightning!!

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Has no one thought of going 12/7?

 

[HoseEmDown]

The problem with the 4th line, whether it's Stephens or Joseph, is that they aren't 4th line players the way Cooper wants them to be. Same goes for Johnson now that he's on there. They are not physical, heavy, defensively strong players. They all have offensive abilities that they don't really get to use since they get defensive zone starts which they struggle with getting the puck out. They would be best used as a change on the fly unit or neutral zone draw line. Since Maroon is on the line Cooper thinks he can use them all in the same way but he's the only one who plays that style.

 

[Point21]

Has no one thought of going 12/7?

I wouldnt be mad if we threw the whole Taxi Squad out as well

 

[Fabiobest]

Pittsburgh as well. It's all we could talk about after losing Game 5 against both the Islanders and Stars. This team has notoriously been shit in close out games in the later rounds of the playoffs. 3-7 record with a chance to win either the Conference Final or SCF since 2015. Multiple 3-2 leads blown. Remember in 2015 how this team didn't lose more than two games in a row all season? Yeah, all the way until the final three games of the season. 27-0-0 record when leading after 2 this season? Nevermind that there were still games where 3rd period leads were blown but the Lightning "won" in 3-on-3 OT or in the shootout - neither which exist in the playoffs and thus hold no basis - but I'm more bothered about how this team struggles to score 3rd period goals in close playoff games. Since last postseason began, we've now had 10 games where we held a 1-goal lead in the third period at any point (with the exception of Game 2 vs. NYI because that lead only needed to be held for 8 seconds). We've only managed to score a third period goal in three of those games. Two of them have actually come in this series, but the goals in Game 1 didn't come until we'd fallen behind. The other game, the lone goal was an ENG. I can talk about how we've blown so many 3rd period leads, but part of it has to do with leaving no margin for error to work with. Trying to defend a 1-goal lead in hockey is the definition of playing with fire. The real miracle is that we haven't gotten burned more often. Most of the blown leads, they managed to win in overtime. The difference between, say, beating Boston 4-1 and trailing 3-2 wasn't much. The difference between leading Dallas 3-2 and trailing them 3-2 wasn't much. The difference between leading 2-1 and trailing 2-1 here isn't much. We're fortunate that things have mostly worked out, but we can't keep relying on the coin landing on heads more often than tails.

I agree and, if the past the difference between leading and trailing was not su much but we were in the right side of the river...maybe this time the story could be different.
And, if we'll play the third period of game 5, trailing...I say that the odds of lose the series would be really high.
So there's any reason not to play our best hockey today: I hope the boys are thinking the same thing. We need a smart but also desperated hockey. We cannot allow Florida to breath.

 

[DFC]

The problem with the 4th line, whether it's Stephens or Joseph, is that they aren't 4th line players the way Cooper wants them to be. Same goes for Johnson now that he's on there. They are not physical, heavy, defensively strong players. They all have offensive abilities that they don't really get to use since they get defensive zone starts which they struggle with getting the puck out. They would be best used as a change on the fly unit or neutral zone draw line. Since Maroon is on the line Cooper thinks he can use them all in the same way but he's the only one who plays that style.

Colton could slot there again, but he's pretty much made himself too valuable. Overall I agree though. We should either use the 4th line differently or change the make up.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[berlin]

60 minute game would sure be nice.

 

[Brie]

Good, I'm glad we're back to playing 11/7

 

[HoseEmDown]

Colton could slot there again, but he's pretty much made himself too valuable. Overall I agree though. We should either use the 4th line differently or change the make up.

When we had Paquette you can get away with having the 3rd option not being as good as him and Maroon can cover for it. Now we can't because Maroon isn't good enough on his own to do it. But Cooper wants his lines to be a certain way even if the personal doesn't fit. Stephens and Joseph are good enough players to play in the playoffs if used to their strengths, with Cooper that isn't the case so I would keep swapping the 12/6 11/7 depending on the matchups.

 

[Felonious Python]

More like Jonathan Pooperblow

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Not sure why it seems to work, but 11/7 just works for this team this time of the year. No need to deviate from it, at least not for the rest of this series.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Let's Go Bolts!!!