GDT: Flyers @ Hurricanes 5PM

[tarheelhockey]

Did his line even come back on the ice after that? It's not like they get a ton of minutes anyway.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

Bowman didn't see the ice for the final 12 minutes of the game, Sutter for the final 13. Not sure when Lindholm came back to the bench.

 

[Zezima]

Did his line even come back on the ice after that? It's not like they get a ton of minutes anyway.

I think Tripp said he came back out to congratulate Anton but he didn't play after it.

 

[Zezima]

The third line are all +3. With Gerbe at neutral, the rest of our forwards are all negative +/-. E. Staal clocking in the lowest at -3.

Harrison/Murphy are our only positive defensemen. At this point in the year it's only a result of matchups but noteworthy I guess.

 

[Caniac125330]

Canes beat the Flyers and the Chiefs move to 5-0, I'm walking on air.

 

[geehaad]

e. Staal clocking in the lowest at -3.

I find this shocking.

 

[Lynk]

+/- is a horrible statistic and should be abolished.

 

[DaveG]

if you've got a good bit of time to kill, prepare to be amazed:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1328837

 

[Novacane]

if you've got a good bit of time to kill, prepare to be amazed:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1328837

Sangs: -13

Double the second worst, Jamie McBain

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

I am still angry at Tripp for trying to sell Sangs as a competent defenseman to us. Wow!

 

[tarheelhockey]

Sangs is one of those guys who contextualizes just how difficult it is to succeed in the NHL as a defenseman.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Several differences this year from last:


Difference #1: We're competitive in games without our top line scoring 3+ goals. Can you say "secondary"?

Difference #2: Our defense seems to actually know what they are doing. All 3 pairings have a vet (Sekera, Harrison, Hainsey) and a relatively inexperienced guy (Faulk, Murphy, Bellemore). We have completely rebuilt our defense, and it doesn't actually look half bad at this point.

Difference #3: Our goaltending doesn't suck either.

Re: The first line: For this game, we went a power vs. power matchup, with TEA going against Giroux, Voracek and Hartnell. Tlusty was getting involved offensively a LOT more than last year. He ended the year with a 10 game point streak (really, look it up), and both Staal and Semin were starting to defer to him by the end.

While it's not the case this year, Tlusty is no longer always covering for Alex and Eric 100% of the time. So that's one more thing they have to look out for- defensive responsibility. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing (Tlusty will probably score more points, so yay!), but it will take time to get adjusted.

But that line is snakebit at the moment.

Murphy and Bellemore are both exceeding my expectations (Murphy: shaky; Bellemore: none). We are missing Gleason and Pitkanen a lot less than I thought we would.

Jordan Staal is much more physical and much better defensively than I remembered.

Lindholm had some very good shifts. I would start to think of moving him up, because Nash can't keep pace offensively with Dvorak (let alone Skinner).

For Pittsburgh, line match ups will be interesting. Sutter will either go against the TEA line or our really dangerous 3rd line. I think the 3rd line, while J. Staal's line and the TEA line will switch off Crosby and Malkin for most of the night, so it could be the game where we finally see the TEA line turn it up. Or rather, they will have to, because I very much doubt that Staal, Semin and Tlusty can hold Crosby-Kunitz or Malkin-the-guy-we-are-taking-a-cap-hit-to-not-play-for-us off the scoreboard for 60 minutes.

On the other hand, putting Malkin/Crosby against Nash would be interesting. At that point, it becomes a J. Staal vs. Sutter battle. Can Sutter shut down the TEA line better than J. Staal can shut down whichever line he is against?

Pumped for Tuesday!!!

 

[cptjeff]

Lindholm had some very good shifts. I would start to think of moving him up, because Nash can't keep pace offensively with Dvorak (let alone Skinner).

I noticed that a few chances died on his stick, but he was working hard and throwing his body around, which popped a few pucks loose that wouldn't pop loose otherwise, which allowed Skinner and Dvorak to recover them and generate chances. Oh, and if the refs had bothered to make calls, he would have drawn about 5 penalties. That kind of forechecking can be a really valuable asset on any line, but it really seems to be paying dividends on that one. I'd say that Nash was our best forechecker tonight by a fair margin, and I think we should leave him there for now. Don't fix what ain't broke- that's been our best line in these first two games.

 

[dmonk]

Wait until at least 20 games mark before judging differences between this year and last, and the team overal


First few games can be a fluke. People here are so quick to jump to the conclusions.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Wait until at least 20 games mark before judging differences between this year and last, and the team overal


First few games can be a fluke. People here are so quick to jump to the conclusions.

Jumping to conclusions would be saying that this team >>>> last years team, and we are going to make the playoffs.

I don't see the harm in pointing out the noticeable differences in this team so far. Though if that wasn't clear, my mistake.

 

[Ole Gil]

Skinner-Ruutu-Dvorak seems like that should be a thing in the near future.

The line I wouldn't mess up is Gerbe-JStaal-Dwyer. Ruutu adds some scoring and physicality in replacing Dwyer, but you lose speed and defense.

In replacing Nash, I think Ruutu is equal to or better at just about everything. And we know he can play with Skinner.

 

[bleedgreen]

I think the third lone center spot is our biggest question. Nash can't keep up offensively, though he's done a solid job overall. Lindholm looks like a little baby bird out there, and if he indeed was hurt I don't think he should be here. You can maybe put skinner there, but otherwise it's a pretty big gap. Skinner and Dvorak look solid.

Skinner playing keep away with the empty net situation is probably my favorite point of the game. Dwyer getting cross checked from behind, following jstaal getting rocked and no one on the canes replying with even dirty looks and strong language is my least favorite.

The lack of execution offensive is also a huge negative. How long did we dominate in the first, and yet we muffed multiple odd man situations with bad passes. We dominated in the second period pinning them in the zone for minutes without getting a dangerous chance or drawing a call. The calls came lter, but here were multiple points in the game where we absolutely should've had more goals or pp chances and came up short due to execution. We would've lost that game if Philly hadn't been so inept offensively.

Still a win is a win, and we move on. Nash should be on the fourth line, and we need someone to fill that third line center spot.

 

[DaveG]

If Rask had the footspeed to keep up he'd be a great fit for that. I'm not sure Lindholm is ready for prime time yet but he's going to be a good one once he is.

 

[vwg*]

I still think we'll eventually see something like this at the end of the season:
Tlusty - Eric - Semin
Gerbe - Jordan - Ruutu
Skinner - Lindholm - Dvorak
Bowman/Sutter - Nash - Dwyer

I thought Lindholm actually created quite a bit of offense in his limited minutes. You can tell he knows what he wants to do with the puck once he gets it. There's very little hesitation in his game. He's sound positionally and he has zero issues with his skating. Still a question mark on faceoffs, but I don't think Nash or any of our other options are great faceoff guys either. I'd really like to see what he can in an expanded ES role if he can stay healthy.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

By season's end, Eric will have Skinner and Gerbe on his wings. Eric and Skinner will continue to do their own individual efforts while Gerbe will continue the tradition by being the pest that really shouldn't be on the top line.

The second line will be Jordan with Semin and Dvorak. It won't work, but they couldn't reasonably put Semin anywhere else and with Ruutu reinjuring his hip/hand/foot/leg/shoulder, Dvorak took his spot.

The third and fourth lines will be a mix and match between NHL and AHL forwards (and occasional defensemen) due to injuries to one or more of the players currently occupying those lines now.

These are facts until the Canes stop being the Canes of the past...decade.

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

Carolina should just send Lindholm back to Brynäs, hes not evolving his offensive game playing 7mins a night, and the fact that hes playing on the 3/4th line in one of the worst teams in the NHL dont help his confidence either. An AHLer like Rask could "grind" those minutes instead

 

[Highway29]

Skinner-Ruutu-Dvorak seems like that should be a thing in the near future.

The line I wouldn't mess up is Gerbe-JStaal-Dwyer. Ruutu adds some scoring and physicality in replacing Dwyer, but you lose speed and defense.

In replacing Nash, I think Ruutu is equal to or better at just about everything. And we know he can play with Skinner.

I agree. We shouldn't mess up with J Staal line.
Ruutu's been playing great past seasons with Skinner.
Then 4th line.. Sutter's been good.
Either send Lindholm somewhere or trade / get somehow rid of Westgarth, maybe trade Bowman..

Sutter - Nash - Bowman/Boychuk/Lindholm whoever

 

[spockBokk]

Carolina should just send Lindholm back to Brynäs, hes not evolving his offensive game playing 7mins a night, and the fact that hes playing on the 3/4th line in one of the worst teams in the NHL dont help his confidence either. An AHLer like Rask could "grind" those minutes instead

Hmmm...a bit harsh here...seems like you are putting way too much stock in the media'a take on the team as opposed to a team with a solid start in their first 2 games.

Lindholm has been hurt, so his conditioning has not really been up to snuff. Thus, the working him in on the 4th line until he gets into complete game shape. Yesterday afternoon he certainly showed flashes of why he was a top 5 pick, but he also left the game for a while with an injury. If he is healthy and continues to show what he did yesterday, there's no way he's going anywhere.

 

[golfpro827]

Great game for the Canes.

I really thought we got screwed on the Flyers goal. It really looked and sounded like Lindholm got his stick on the puck that was called icing. Flyers win the faceoff and score.

Overall impression after two games is good.

Faulk was the star of the weekend. That guy was a monster against Detroit and once again solid as hell and Philly. I really can't wait to see him and Gleason together.

Sekera makes a lot of plays. The rush he broke up in the Philly game literally by himself and then turned it into a rush the other direction was a piece of beauty.

We finally appear to have a third line that can put the puck in the net again and it has nothing to do with Dvorak netting two goals. The chances they are putting up - and their puck possession is just dominate.

I was cautiously optimistic heading into the season, but I'm liking what I'm seeing. I'm not too caught up in the slow start for SST - they will put pucks in the net - but once that line gets rolling, we will be one of those teams that no one wants to play.

If we can manage 4 or 5 points in this hell week coming up, it will be a heck of a start to the season.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

Carolina should just send Lindholm back to Brynäs, hes not evolving his offensive game playing 7mins a night, and the fact that hes playing on the 3/4th line in one of the worst teams in the NHL dont help his confidence either. An AHLer like Rask could "grind" those minutes instead

Oh, hey, I don't watch the games or know anything about your team but they should really do ________ because ______________