Crunch Time

[TopCheeseShotta]

This core has repeatedly had some pretty obviously poor results in moments of truth - in Crunch Time - in OTs, in must-score scenarios - and definitely, in the playoffs. Duh, right?

But I want you alllllllllll to not think trades, or Contract sizes, or Dubie vs Tre, or any other form of shoulda coulda wouldas. We do enuff of that around here. I want you alllllll to restrict yourselves to thinking, 1) This is the team we have, 2) Nobody's coming to the rescue, 3) This is what we're going with this year........ so now what? How do you change the men already here to be ready for the fight?

Theyve looked more spirited tonstart the year here, but 2 rexent games gave me flashbacks. The drubbing and no response in Florida was one thing, but the Tampa game that followed may have been even more emblematic.

Y'know.. there were lots of excuses (no McCabe, referees titling the game, Conor Timmins skateblade, lol), but - that 3rd period where we didn’t win a single battle or a single faceoff was again, pretty symptomatic of our core's demonstrated lack of pushback when the going gets tough. The lone silver lining as i see it, was that at least the combo of Tre and Berube have seen it now, prior to the playoffs. That's gotta be good for something, right??

I hope a guy like Berube sees it, and tries to help coax the demons out of these guys. The "oh no it's happening again" PTSD has to be real for them, after so many heartbreaking failures. Gripping sticks, standing around - or overworking and not anticipating, almost looking paralyzed... I recall all of this vividly of course, as we all share the same PTSD too.

I guess what I'm hoping for this season, is that a rugged spirit like Berube might be different enuff to be able to take each one of them aside individually, and kinda pull the men up outta these fellas!

Wishing for too much out of a lughead maybe, but that's all I got. I'm hoping like us all, he can at least see and recognize that there's an opportunity there to help these young men simplify and summon the 'battle' required - by changing the "woe is me" weight on their shoulders, to just "I'm not ever letting the other guy beat me".

Am I crazy? I mean, hellya, for sure. But do you see the same kinda things in our group? And if you can, is it crazy to think Berube can be a difference maker? And if you can't, aside from Chief being a miracle worker, what else can help these guys really get out of their own way in crunch time, not in November - but when the games really matter?

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[Ianturnedbull]

I'm here. I'm ready. It's crunch time.

 

[Maple Leaf]

I'm here. I'm ready. It's crunch time.

What did he say tlrd

 

[Zybalto]

We may have already made the key choice in net, coaching, D and depth additions.

In hindsight, running Campbell and Samsonov against Price/Vasy/Bob/Swayman looks like the biggest mismatch on paper. Not even McDavid having one of the greatest playoff runs by a player in history was enough to compensate the fact they had Skinner and the Cats had Bob last year.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

We may have already made the key choice in net, coaching, D and depth additions.

In hindsight, running Campbell and Samsonov against Price/Vasy/Bob/Swayman looks like the biggest mismatch on paper. Not even McDavid having one of the greatest playoff runs by a player in history was enough to compensate the fact they had Skinner and the Cats had Bob last year.

Not even in hindsight. Everyone knew we weren’t winning shit with those guys between the pipes.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Our goalies weren't amazing or anything, but it's hard to win when you can't score more than 1-2 goals. Doesn't matter who's in net

14 straight playoff games of offensive ineptitude

 

[conFABulator]

Play playoff hockey all year and not just think we can turn it on when the playoffs gets here

Playoff hockey?

Good goaltending. We have done OK with playoff goalies, but not good enough. Do we ever remember our goalies winning us a playoff game ame we had no business winning? We all remember getting goalied once or twice every series though.

Grind the other team down. It's a seven game series (hopefully less) and we need to finish our checks every game. Tanev, McCabe, Knies, OEL, Hakanpaa, Benoit, Lorentz, Dewar, Paccioretty all bring this and everyone needs to do it and everyone benefits from it as the series goes on.

Don't be so easy to game plan against. Have more than two lines that can score and some different looks on the PP. To me, this is the biggest one. Don't put our core four in the top six and don't stack a PP1. we are built to in have better F depth than most teams, let's embrace that.

Kill penalities. Don't let the other team's PP sink us.

Give ourselves a better chance in R1. Win the division and get home ice and an opponent that is not voted most likely to go to be cup finals.

Every one of these things is what we do around the core four. They need to step up and be accountable too. They need support too.

 

[IPS]

Funny when you actually realize it's been offence that's holding our team back in the last however many playoffs.