GDT: GAME 3 PANDAS @ HURRICANES

[RodTheBawd]

Also, this is KINDA what can happen when you have essentially two backup goalies playing really well for you. They can play a series where you don’t outright blame them for losses, but they don’t steal any games either. Both goals last night were save-able, but ones I wouldn’t get mad at either. For the Canes to beat the Bruins in the series, I felt like there had to be one or two games that were outright stolen.

What? How was that first one "save-able"? Then the 2nd was a bad bounce, sometimes they find holes.

 

[Lempo]

I know its major what if territory but if turbo buries that shot 15 seconds in it's a completely different game. I hated seeing that and thinking "oh God that's probably the game" but I totally did. He seemed to have a hard time handling the puck all game and I can't help but think it was in his head and everyone else's

The club felt all wrong in his hand.

 

[Svechhammer]

Weird that last night’s Raleigh TV ratings were a point and a half lower than Game 3 of the Isles series. Maybe some people were watching basketball all night.

Yeah, really curious how ratings fell after the Canes were coming home down 2-0 in the series having been outscored 11-3 over those games with the most recent one being a thorough asskicking as opposed to the last series when the Canes came home up 2-0.

Really curious indeed.

 

[GoldiFox]

What? How was that first one "save-able"? Then the 2nd was a bad bounce, sometimes they find holes.

Only thing saving the first goal would have been Faulk pulling his head out of his ass and covering his man. One of the easiest tap-in goals I've seen all Playoffs. No goalie is saving that.

 

[jiitu]

Power play propably suck since clearly they have agreed wrong things. Pp is very static. Thats the problem. They have to move not only puck but the guys as well. Exchange positions and pass those moments. And try to make space to pass on center. Im surprised how they javent changed that statoc approach during all these troubles.

 

[caniac247]

If we had an average PP, this series could be 2-1 Canes. Nothing we can do about it now. I mean i'm shocked we even made it this far with the PP we have, it's just horrible. The guys got back to their game and had enough chances to put the game away in the first. Boston took all those penalties because they knew it wouldn't matter and would be in their favor. That's exactly what happened. We got frustrated for not scoring and being up, then Boston comes out in the first and BAM takes the lead. Just like Game 1. Canes were the better team, couldn't capitalize and then Boston came out for the third and got the 2 quick PP goals. One team has a great PP, then other team does not. The team with the great PP is leading the series 3-0. Hopefully Dundon sees this and will bring us in a PP specialist coach. The PP is just demoralizing at this point.

Hopefully the guys can get a win Thursday as it most likely will be their last home game until October. But you never know, win Thursday, take it a game at a time, and the reverse sweep may happen. I doubt it, but you never know.

 

[RodTheBawd]

Only thing saving the first goal would have been Faulk pulling his head out of his ass and covering his man. One of the easiest tap-in goals I've seen all Playoffs. No goalie is saving that.

Or McGinn clearing the zone and picking up his man when he doesn't?

One thing I couldn't believe was how few icings there were that game (until the 3rd by Boston). It's like they're scared to death to ice the puck so they go for these weak little dinks to get it out of the zone, leading to Boston easily keeping everything in.

 

[AD Skinner]

Which is weird because in the past two series I thought they had gotten pretty adept at those pop fly clears that kind of dink into the other zone like a punt and dont quite make the line

 

[Drivebytrucker]

That hits the nail on the head. The pieces are there, and on the verge of moving up. If they come as advertised, the PP changes dramatically in the space of a season or two.

I agree with @Drivebytrucker that Svech also looks like a PP natural and changes the dynamic. Between Svech, Aho, Turbo, Hamilton, Faulk, Necas, Bean, we potentially have a great first unit and a start on a second unit.

I'd leave Bean out of this until he actually proves he's NHL material.

We thought Ryan Murphy was going to save our PP once upon a time too

 

[My Special Purpose]

If we had an average PP, this series could be 2-1 Canes. Nothing we can do about it now. I mean i'm shocked we even made it this far with the PP we have, it's just horrible. The guys got back to their game and had enough chances to put the game away in the first. Boston took all those penalties because they knew it wouldn't matter and would be in their favor. That's exactly what happened. We got frustrated for not scoring and being up, then Boston comes out in the first and BAM takes the lead. Just like Game 1. Canes were the better team, couldn't capitalize and then Boston came out for the third and got the 2 quick PP goals. One team has a great PP, then other team does not. The team with the great PP is leading the series 3-0. Hopefully Dundon sees this and will bring us in a PP specialist coach. The PP is just demoralizing at this point.

Hopefully the guys can get a win Thursday as it most likely will be their last home game until October. But you never know, win Thursday, take it a game at a time, and the reverse sweep may happen. I doubt it, but you never know.

I know the power play is glaring, and I get it. But it's a symptom, not a problem. Our problem is finishing. It's been our problem since Day 1 of training camp. A "PP specialist coach" can't fix it, like that even exists, or could even be a factor. The McGinn miss in the second period of Game 1 was shorthanded. The Teravainen miss 18 seconds into Game 3 was 5-on-5, as was the Svechnikov miss at the far post off the feed from Teuvo. We could be up 2-1 in this series even *with* the power play as it is. Williams took his time, out-waited defenders and Rask, then put a shot off the crossbar.

For a while, we had some confidence and stuff was going in. Now it's not. I'm not sure why it went away, but it's not like this is new or anything. We've seen this before, because this is our team. There are times when we can't score, and it doesn't matter if it's 5-on-5, 5-on-4 or 5-on-3. That's where we are right now, and it's a bummer.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I'd leave Bean out of this until he actually proves he's NHL material.

We thought Ryan Murphy was going to save our PP once upon a time too

I agree that we don’t rush to conclusions. But he’s definitely on the right development curve and is exactly the mold of player we need (a distributor, not another shooter).

Murphy’s issue was that he never got better. He came into the system mostly formed as a player, and actually got worse with time. Jamie McBain was the same way. It says a lot about our development system at a time when we couldn’t find a quality D prospect to save our lives. Bean seems to be on an upward curve, which also probably says something about Charlotte.

 

[GoldiFox]

Keith Yandle had 32 PP assists this year for Florida. Faulk (4), Slavin (2), and Hamilton (5) combined for 11 total PP assists.

Faulk had 4 PP assists in 234 minutes of PP time. Faulk averaged one PP assist every 58 minutes of PP time. Put Faulk out for a full game worth of PP time and you might get one assist.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Keith Yandle had 32 PP assists this year for Florida. Faulk (4), Slavin (2), and Hamilton (5) combined for 11 total PP assists.

Faulk had 4 PP assists in 234 minutes of PP time. Faulk averaged one PP assist every 58 minutes of PP time. Put Faulk out for a full game worth of PP time and you might get one assist.

That seems to speak to Kev’s general assessment of the forwards lacking finish, no?

 

[GoldiFox]

That seems to speak to Kev’s general assessment of the forwards lacking finish, no?

Aho has 20 assists with the same unit.

For me it speaks to how Justin Faulk adds absolutely nothing to the PP1. Worse than dead weight. Faulk is a personification of the issues plaguing that unit. He doesn't move with the puck. He has no playmaking ability to find seam passes. He dusts off every single pass, as if he never anticipates getting the puck and must decide what to do only after he gets possession. His shot is terrible, he struggles to get shots through and always shoots high. He plays hot potato with the puck when any pressure is applied. He is awful in defensive transition so every odd-man rush against is terrifying. I can't say I've ever seen him make a move to beat a guy one-on-one and open a play. etc, etc, etc.

 

[Canes]

That seems to speak to Kev’s general assessment of the forwards lacking finish, no?

Why can't it be both?

It's not like Faulk is out there regularly setting up guys for tap ins on the powerplay. He just doesn't have much offensive talent and the one thing he could do on the PP he isn't even that good at anymore.

 

[Drivebytrucker]

Keith Yandle had 32 PP assists this year for Florida. Faulk (4), Slavin (2), and Hamilton (5) combined for 11 total PP assists.

Faulk had 4 PP assists in 234 minutes of PP time. Faulk averaged one PP assist every 58 minutes of PP time. Put Faulk out for a full game worth of PP time and you might get one assist.

Turbo and Aho ain't Hoffman though. Not even close!

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Only thing saving the first goal would have been Faulk pulling his head out of his ass and covering his man. One of the easiest tap-in goals I've seen all Playoffs. No goalie is saving that.

That wasn't Faulk's man, that was pesce's man. Pesce swung over to cover mcginns man, faulk reacted a second too late.

 

[GoldiFox]

Turbo and Aho ain't Hoffman though. Not even close!

Hoffman might not be Hoffman without Yandle. That video is a good example of what Faulk is sorely lacking. Yandle gets passed the puck with time and space at the point, he calmly cuts towards the slot (drawing the defense and eyes of the goalie) and shows a subtle shot-fake, and then executes a perfect pass directly into Hoffman's shooting motion. The Canes can't set plays like that with any regularity, Faulk doesn't have the mobility and intelligence to set up a shooter, and even if he did he can't make passes that smooth.

 

[GoldiFox]

That wasn't Faulk's man, that was pesce's man. Pesce swung over to cover mcginns man, faulk reacted a second too late.

Who was Faulk defending then? There wasn't a player within 15 feet of him in any direction.

McGinn was too far out so Pesce had to charge Nordstrom. Else Nordstrom would have walked into the slot and taken his shot. It would have been a simple defensive shift except Faulk was out in no-man's land covering nobody and was unable to get back in time. I don't see any reason on that play that Faulk should be closer to the blueline than his own goal when Nordstrom has the puck below the dot.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Who was Faulk defending then? There wasn't a player within 15 feet of him in any direction.

Are you kidding me? You literally see pesce go to the net to cover wagner, then leave because mcginn blew coverage.

 

[longtime lurker]

If Teuvo scores into an open net in the first 30 seconds, or if Svech finishes that back-door feed from TT to tie the score, or if Aho picks *any* part of the net on his one-timer, or Maenalanen lifts the puck on his mini-break, then the entire Rask narrative falls apart. These weren't great saves, they were missed shots.

Rask was good. But a lot of the damage in this series has been self-inflicted.

Yep. They are making him appear better than he is because he is making the saves he should make and not having to make the saves he shouldn't make. Players are either missing the empty net or shooting the puck right into him.

This same thing happened to Columbus too, especially in game 6. It's not going to continue like this forever. At some point, the guys who are expected to score are going to stop missing their chances.

 

[Chrispy]

Hoffman might not be Hoffman without Yandle. That video is a good example of what Faulk is sorely lacking. Yandle gets passed the puck with time and space at the point, he calmly cuts towards the slot (drawing the defense and eyes of the goalie) and shows a subtle shot-fake, and then executes a perfect pass directly into Hoffman's shooting motion. The Canes can't set plays like that with any regularity, Faulk doesn't have the mobility and intelligence to set up a shooter, and even if he did he can't make passes that smooth.

With Svechnikov here and Necas coming, there are a couple of candidates for forwards who can fill that Hoffman role.

I'd say the Canes are still looking for a PP QB like Yandle, but so is most of the rest of the league.

 

[hurricanesfan66]

Or McGinn clearing the zone and picking up his man when he doesn't?

One thing I couldn't believe was how few icings there were that game (until the 3rd by Boston). It's like they're scared to death to ice the puck so they go for these weak little dinks to get it out of the zone, leading to Boston easily keeping everything in.

I noticed that a lot. Even our sure and steady men. Some I expect it too. I am about to my quota on 27 bashing, so I won't call him out, but I saw Slavin and Pesce and others do the same thing, and Boston came flying back in.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I know the power play is glaring, and I get it. But it's a symptom, not a problem. Our problem is finishing. It's been our problem since Day 1 of training camp. A "PP specialist coach" can't fix it, like that even exists, or could even be a factor. The McGinn miss in the second period of Game 1 was shorthanded. The Teravainen miss 18 seconds into Game 3 was 5-on-5, as was the Svechnikov miss at the far post off the feed from Teuvo. We could be up 2-1 in this series even *with* the power play as it is. Williams took his time, out-waited defenders and Rask, then put a shot off the crossbar.

For a while, we had some confidence and stuff was going in. Now it's not. I'm not sure why it went away, but it's not like this is new or anything. We've seen this before, because this is our team. There are times when we can't score, and it doesn't matter if it's 5-on-5, 5-on-4 or 5-on-3. That's where we are right now, and it's a bummer.

Again, mad props to Rod for getting the absolute most out of these guys.

We're now seeing the ceiling of what a team like this can do. We don't have the mature skill players yet. But this team has an identity now, and a strong pipeline of talent, and a solid organizational foundation, and assets to trade, and money to spend.

Win or lose Game 4, this has been an incredible season -- incredible mostly because it feels like the beginning. Our window is opening, and it could be open for a while.

 

[AD Skinner]

I'm far from a Faulk apologist but I put the majority of fault there on mcginn for trying to clear it through two Bruins on his backhand. No way was he going to get enough mustard in that to make it through, he could have just rimmed hard behind the net. Even if it didnt make it out it would have given time for the d to locate their marks