GDT: Game 2 - 1-CAR vs 4-NAS

[Navin R Slavin]

is that a banana?

There are a whole bunch of teams in the Polar Adult Leagues in Raleigh with banana themed jerseys. Weird but true.

 

[The Jerk Store]

There are a whole bunch of teams in the Polar Adult Leagues in Raleigh with banana themed jerseys. Weird but true.

They are all part of the same group. The Huge Dekes, The Average Dekes, The Tiny Dekes, and The Micro Dekes. Great bunch of guys.

 

[Rempe73]

The PK hierarchy goes Slavin, Pesce, Skjei, and Hakanpaa. Skjei actually got the 3rd star tonight because he played 9:37 (!) on the kill and helped the Canes kill all 7 (!!) Nashville power plays.

Speaking of questionable usage, why Skjei would be below Marc Staal (with the bad eye and all) in the PK hierarchy is beyond me.

Haha yea exactly. I may be wrong about that but either way, having Staal above Skjei on the PK would be very Rangers

 

[Lempo]

They are all part of the same group. The Huge Dekes, The Average Dekes, The Tiny Dekes, and The Micro Dekes. Great bunch of guys.

Dekes?

putin_laughs.gif

 

[Rempe73]

TBF to Skjei, though, the Rangers didn't really have many offensive options at the time on the blueline. In hindsight, Pionk should've been their offensive centerpiece or at least one of them, but no one knew that he had that type of consistent point production in him until he was dealt to Winnipeg. Adam Fox did fall out of the sky into your laps after he refused to sign in Carolina, however, so that helps considerably. I bet that Fox would've won the Norris this year if he chose to play for us. A D-corps of Slavin/Hamilton/Pesce/Fox would've been the most hilarious defensive group ever assembled in the cap era, and he would've had the cup contender factor on his side, too. You know how every shift that Toews and Makar are on looks like the ice is ramped in favor of the Avs? You would've seen two full pairings of this phenomenon on one team if the Canes had signed Fox.

This is so true. Before the Rangers traded for Fox, I couldn’t wait to see that Carolina D corps with him. I really loved Fox’s game ever since Calgary still had him, similar to how I used to love DeAngelo back when he was still on the Coyotes. So when Carolina got him, I was almost just as happy as when NY got him.

I mean, I won’t lie to you. It’s awesome having Fox, but I’m also slightly worried there may be some bad luck in the future because of how he got to NY. But yea no doubt it really sucks for Carolina, yet I still have a lot more faith in Carolina’s management than NY’s (until they got rid of Gorton, so we’ll see). I can tell you all about that. I mean, Panarin, Fox, Kakko, and Lafreniere were all luck.

And are you talking about Skjei’s rookie season?

 

[emptyNedder]

I agree with Aho

Aho's ability to disrupt the other team's PP in their own zone may be the single most underrated skill in the NHL. I believe someone here posted the statistic that a short-handed goal has more influence on a single game's outcome than any other type of goal or situation.

He changes the back pass that almost all PP's use. When the opponents switch tactics to dump the puck deep, Aho is often able to tip the pass coming back to the PP quarterback at the point and create those short-handed breakaways.
There are some other great PKing forwards (Coleman, Atkinson, Stone come to mind) but none of them create the short-handed havoc that Aho does on a regular basis.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Skjei didn’t match the Rangers system. An offensive heavy, leave a defender on an island type of system. If the defenders messed up then they were giving up a HD chance for sure. Make the right play as everyone starts flying the zone the moment you have a hint of possession. Maybe it was too much pressure on Skjei or maybe Trouba was also new and both weren’t able to develop the chemistry to provide mutual support. Trouba was on his 2nd straight negative 8 xG margin year.

on the Canes, he can provide offense when he wants, the system gives him the options to make plays without a ton of on the fly thinking, and he is supported by one of the more underrated defenders in the league. Not a ton of pressure on him. Less thinking, more playing. That helps a lot of guys.

the 1st rounder was still a little of an overpayment but Rangers did us a solid by giving us 2, 2nd rounders for a guy that wasn’t coming here.

 

[DaveG]

opened a Post-Game Thread here: Post-Game Talk: - NAS - CAR Game 2: 3-0 Canes win - lead series 2-0