GDT: Game 1 - 25 years and all we have is 1 Cup to show for it - Canes vs BJs

[Joe McGrath]

but god, I hope we don't see much more of pesce on the powerplay. that was awful. that's probably why we wanted coghlan or bear in the lineup to take those minutes and still might as time goes on. they also have necas playing rhd on one of the units for his decision making and big shot, which might be where they wanted coghlan to keep necas on the wall and available for those one timer opportunities.

That 2nd unit should be an absolute cheat code with the Svech line + Stasny. Pesce couldn’t even figure out how to get out from behind his own net. I’d rather just have Slavin out there and be done with it. He’s not great but also not actively terrible like the other options appear to be.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Only 81 more games wins until the playoffs!

ftfy

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Sounds awfully Datsyukian to me...

Reported!

Seriously though, there was a play last night during the game where I thought it reminded me of Datsyuk. It was Necas hounding the player for the puck and causing a turnover without taking a penalty, creating a scoring chance and then cashing in himself.

Aho, Jarvis and to a lesser extent TT (last night) were noticeable when it came to anticipating what the CBJ players were going to do and disrupting the play. Jarvis fits right in.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

I also thought Necas looked fantastic. Even if he hadn't scored the goal, everything else he did was everything we could have hoped for in growth from one year to the next. If he keeps that up, he may be coming for KK's spot as our 2nd line center. Not that KK looked bad, but Necas just looked that good.

I agree he looked fantastic. That said he definitely got lucky on the PK a few times. Got lucky with the offsides call, and I think he toe picked earlier in that same power play to blow an easy clearing attempt and gave CBJ a lot of time and space.

Reported!

Seriously though, there was a play last night during the game where I thought it reminded me of Datsyuk. It was Necas hounding the player for the puck and causing a turnover without taking a penalty, creating a scoring chance and then cashing in himself.

Aho, Jarvis and to a lesser extent TT (last night) were noticeable when it came to anticipating what the CBJ players were going to do and disrupting the play. Jarvis fits right in.

He was noticeable on multiple occasions trying the "from behind stick lift" thing that is on so many Datsyuk highlight reels. It almost felt like slow motion watching him easily catch up to the guy from behind then watching his thought process as he determined how aggressive he should/could be to ensure he didn't take a penalty. I distinctly remember seeing it twice, maybe there was a third.

 

[LostInaLostWorld]

Jake Bean had 15+TOI. 1 hit 1 block. Didn't notice him at all

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Reported!

Seriously though, there was a play last night during the game where I thought it reminded me of Datsyuk. It was Necas hounding the player for the puck and causing a turnover without taking a penalty, creating a scoring chance and then cashing in himself.

Aho, Jarvis and to a lesser extent TT (last night) were noticeable when it came to anticipating what the CBJ players were going to do and disrupting the play. Jarvis fits right in.

you should change your name to NecasisDatsyukian

 

[DaveG]

It was a passing comment by Tripp and not much more I recall on the Carolina broadcast. Columbus showed replays of the hit and Laine in discomfort on the bench.

I literally hate this for Columbus. That was such a nothing play for an injury like that.. Hopefully it's just a stinger and not something like what Pesce had to deal with after the Toronto game a few years back

 

[Vagrant]

Reported!

Seriously though, there was a play last night during the game where I thought it reminded me of Datsyuk. It was Necas hounding the player for the puck and causing a turnover without taking a penalty, creating a scoring chance and then cashing in himself.

Aho, Jarvis and to a lesser extent TT (last night) were noticeable when it came to anticipating what the CBJ players were going to do and disrupting the play. Jarvis fits right in.

Jarvis is a player. he's going to fit in anywhere. really love him with aho in particular. he just has that attacking mindset to go from forechecking to attacking as soon as it comes available. I was impressed with how many outlet passes that line got their sticks on last night and ended up with partial man advantages. there's no lazy zone exits for opposing defenders that struggle with those. it slows down the attack to have to keep two defenders back for every breakout for support because just leaving one looks like a bad idea against the intensity of all 3 guys on that line filling up-ice lanes and letting the high forechecker give 'em hell. columbus wasn't adequately prepared for how quickly they were being rushed once we got on our game in the 3rd. werenski had 3 giveaways last night alone. might have been the first time in his career that has happened. those are just the ones that were counted.

I was surprised by how much I liked the Stastny - Staal - Fast line. I wasn't in love with Fast there, but Stastny and Staal really played off each other well. I would love to see Kase get a chance there, but Fast didn't do a bad job. they were doing in the offensive zone what the Aho line was doing in transition. they just kept the cycle going like it was 2008. Stastny might be a really underrated pickup. It was cool to hear how Max and Paul being close was kind of a clincher to get him here. You need those kind of things to happen to get a vet heavy team like this to commit to lesser roles than they could have elsewhere. lots of self-belief in the room.

 

[Vagrant]

Jake Bean had 15+TOI. 1 hit 1 block. Didn't notice him at all

Bean is an NHL guy, he's just not incredibly useful defensively at this stage. he's getting better and will probably improve to adequate soon enough. I think we got it wrong with him, but we didn't have the time Columbus appears to have to invest into catching him up.

 

[CupInSIX]

It was a passing comment by Tripp and not much more I recall on the Carolina broadcast. Columbus showed replays of the hit and Laine in discomfort on the bench.

not a doctor (IRL) but I don't think elbows go that way.

Hope it's nothing bad.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

you should change your name to NecasisDatsyukian

Nah, I recognize that a handful of plays similar to one aspect of Datsyuk’s game isn’t worthy of the “Datsyukian” description.

 

[Svechhammer]

I don’t want to read too much into one game but what I saw from him last night got me giddy with excitement. If he can carry these changes to his game across the full season he’s going to have himself a great year.

I honestly don't think its understating it too much to say the struggles that Necas had last year was probably one of the biggest reasons why we flamed out in the way we did in the playoffs. We expected him to be a major scoring threat on the 2nd line to take a lot of pressure off the top line and to give us an excellent 1-2 punch up front. With him having a bit of a black hole season, the 2nd line never fully gelled and it put all of the pressure on the top line to score, or at least carry the heavy load. In the playoffs, when NYR realized all they had to do was just blanket the Aho line with their best defensive line, we were screwed. Boston showed they could do it in Boston in the first round, and the Rangers did it as well. And without any other scoring threats, we were fuuuuucked.

So yeah, to see the 2nd line light the lamp multiple times last night should be a very welcome sight this year. If they give us the kind of scoring punch we think they can have, there is no reason we aren't on a very short list of legitimate Cup contenders.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

I honestly don't think its understating it too much to say the struggles that Necas had last year was probably one of the biggest reasons why we flamed out in the way we did in the playoffs. We expected him to be a major scoring threat on the 2nd line to take a lot of pressure off the top line and to give us an excellent 1-2 punch up front. With him having a bit of a black hole season, the 2nd line never fully gelled and it put all of the pressure on the top line to score, or at least carry the heavy load. In the playoffs, when NYR realized all they had to do was just blanket the Aho line with their best defensive line, we were screwed. Boston showed they could do it in Boston in the first round, and the Rangers did it as well. And without any other scoring threats, we were fuuuuucked.

So yeah, to see the 2nd line light the lamp multiple times last night should be a very welcome sight this year. If they give us the kind of scoring punch we think they can have, there is no reason we aren't on a very short list of legitimate Cup contenders.

I mean yes but it wasn't just Necas. Our entire team struggled to score. Svech after the massive hit was invisible for some reason. Aho, Turbo, Jarvis didn't do much. Tro was never really good in the playoffs for us. Nino/Staal/Fast were every bit as good defensively in the playoffs as they were in the regular season but the scoring dried up for them. I don't remember getting any positive offensive contributions from the 4th line at all (I still think Step should've played more in the playoffs). TDA was pretty trash in the playoffs. Was more of a total team issue in my mind, than blaming any particular players. Also, PP was horrible.

Hopefully more development from our younger guys (of which we have many), along with our veteran additions, will solve that issue this year. I really think it will but we'll have to wait to see.

 

[NotOpie]

Loved seeing Slavin plant Gaudreau. He doesn’t need to be a tough guy but a little bit of physical presence wouldn’t hurt his game at all.

Slavin does that about 6 or 8 times a season. When he lines somebody up for a hit, he not only rocks them, he also ends up, right back in position.

I don't want to read too much into one game, but if Necas keeps that up, he will be the next President of the United States.

I don't want to read too much into one game, but if Necas keeps that up, he will cure cancer.

I'm still interested in seeing him play with CDH. I think we might rotate between him and Chatfield some. Hopefully IMO.

Of all the defenders last night, CDH was the least impressive to me. I do believe he's still getting his legs under himself. But he made an inordinate number of sloppy plays.

 

[Svechhammer]

 

[tarheelhockey]

Slavin does that about 6 or 8 times a season. When he lines somebody up for a hit, he not only rocks them, he also ends up, right back in position.

What struck me about that one specifically is that it was a bit of a cheap shot. Usually when Slavin rocks someone it’s because they tried to skate the puck right through him, or when it’s unavoidable along the walls. In this case Gaudreau had fully released the puck and was clearly not making any attempt to retrieve it, and Slavin just laid him out for the sake of it. Maybe it was just a one-off, but there was a bit of edginess to that play which hasn’t been part of his game in the past.

 

[cptjeff]

Something I always said watching Herschel Walker play

Worked out for that O Lineman from Michigan.

 

[NotOpie]

What struck me about that one specifically is that it was a bit of a cheap shot. Usually when Slavin rocks someone it’s because they tried to skate the puck right through him, or when it’s unavoidable along the walls. In this case Gaudreau had fully released the puck and was clearly not making any attempt to retrieve it, and Slavin just laid him out for the sake of it. Maybe it was just a one-off, but there was a bit of edginess to that play which hasn’t been part of his game in the past.

In general I thought Johnny G. had a rough go of things last night. Not because he was off his game or anything, but because of "welcome to the Eastern conference motherf***er"

 

[cptjeff]

I literally hate this for Columbus. That was such a nothing play for an injury like that.. Hopefully it's just a stinger and not something like what Peace had to deal with after the Toronto game a few years back

Agreed. Those fans have had so many rough years, then they were, out of nowhere, gonna have Johnny Hockey and Laine together, and now this. Sucks. Sucks for hockey fans in general too.

 

[Chrispy]

Worked out for that O Lineman from Michigan.

Tony Mandarich went into politics??

 

[Zezima]

Have we ever tried Skjei on the power play? He has good shooting instincts/can't be worse than Pesce

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Tony Mandarich went into politics??

Michigan vs Michigan State.

 

[Zezima]

What struck me about that one specifically is that it was a bit of a cheap shot. Usually when Slavin rocks someone it’s because they tried to skate the puck right through him, or when it’s unavoidable along the walls. In this case Gaudreau had fully released the puck and was clearly not making any attempt to retrieve it, and Slavin just laid him out for the sake of it. Maybe it was just a one-off, but there was a bit of edginess to that play which hasn’t been part of his game in the past.

I thought Slavin was noticeably jumping into the offensive zone more as well. Maybe Burns is already rubbing off on him.

 

[Chrispy]

Michigan vs Michigan State.

Oh, sure. Next you'll tell me there's an Eastern Michigan too.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

But I was told that the storm surge is cringe and the players obviously hate participating in it.