GDT: Game 81: Columbus at Tampa Bay | 4/11 7:30PM EDT

[EspenK]

C'mon, are you guys implying we can score a 6 on 5 goal?

Our 6 on 5 basically sucked. Where were the swarming 6 guys in front of the net that we saw from Chicago or Phoenix? Even with 7 or 8 seconds left we were still getting too cute.

 

[silver89]

Why do they start McElhinney

 

[Robert]

I think he's acting like there's "100 or so"

I used to live in Grove City... I faught with at least 10 home owners that were Pitt fans back in 2000.... There are many Pitt fans in C-bus, they are loving it right now.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I was fine with how we played. I think we carried the play the entire game, and other than the start of the 2nd where we gave up 3 PP's in like 5 minutes I thought we played very well. McElhinney gave up two softies (Both Brewer goals) and without those we probably at least get a point. I still agree with the decision to rest Bob. Now we can play him tomorrow, hopefully win, and hope for some help from PIT and CAR this weekend. If not, likely a date with Pittsburgh.

 

[EspenK]

I still don't get how anyone can think that not starting Bob was smart. We pretty much had to win tonight to have a realistic chance at moving into third place. We didn't ice the best team possible. That is all there is to it.

 

[blahblah]

Why do they start McElhinney

Assuming this is rhetorical. We know why.

 

[blahblah]

I still don't get how anyone can think that not starting Bob was smart. We pretty much had to win tonight to have a realistic chance at moving into third place. We didn't ice the best team possible. That is all there is to it.

I was fine with the decision. I'm still fine with it. We had a chance to win.

That's all I'm going to say on it.

 

[Jaxs]

I agree that not playing Bob tonight didn't give the team the best chance to move up in the standings. Richards contradicted himself by that choice.

 

[Robert]

I still don't get how anyone can think that not starting Bob was smart. We pretty much had to win tonight to have a realistic chance at moving into third place. We didn't ice the best team possible. That is all there is to it.

Well said, it’s obvious MGT decided the regular season was over after clinching, many will rip me for harping on this but I will stand my ground... stupid ass decision to play a backup goaltender tonight when playing a much less ominous opponent (Rangers) in the first round was still on the plate...

Again, not happy but this game is over…. Move on dot org..

 

[blahblah]

I agree that not playing Bob tonight didn't give the team the best chance to move up in the standings. Richards contradicted himself by that choice.

I tend to agree with the last part. I was surprised. We don't know what changed Richards mind.

Having said that, anytime you start you backup you are, technically, not giving your self your best chance to win - and by extension move up the standings.

McBackup gave up a couple of soft ones - one might even claim all three. Regardless we had our chance to take this to OT and we didn't.

 

[Kfarschman]

I still don't get how anyone can think that not starting Bob was smart. We pretty much had to win tonight to have a realistic chance at moving into third place. We didn't ice the best team possible. That is all there is to it.

Why is this game more important than the Florida game? What if we won tonight with Bob and lost to Florida with Curtis? Would that have helped us more than if we beat Florida with Bob now?

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Well said, it’s obvious MGT decided the regular season was over after clinching, many will rip me for harping on this but I will stand my ground... stupid ass decision to play a backup goaltender tonight when playing a much less ominous opponent (Rangers) in the first round was still on the plate...

Again, not happy but this game is over…. Move on dot org..

Yeah thats it. Nothing had to do with resting their goalie who had just played in 6 games in 9 days, and also only not started two games in the last month or so of games. You're right, it was all about packing it in until the 16th.

We can still catch Philly. We just need some help (us winning tomorrow, Philly can only win a game in a SO or only get 1 point in their last 2 games, and they play PIT and CAR in a b2b SAT/SUN)

 

[jackets4life]

Meh. If we win tomorrow, I can live with facing the Penguins in the first round. Will be a great opportunity for our team, most definitely it will be a series televised on NBCSN.

Tonight...Curtis, I just don't get it. Play him tomorrow in Florida if you have to, but not tonight. Bob may have stopped all 3 of those, the 2nd two with ease. Otherwise I really liked our game tonight in the 1st and 3rd, Tampa did great job goaltending and blocking shots.

 

[ca5150]

Nope... only 100 or so Gold sweaters... all the tickets have been sold to 614 zip code folks

Most of the Pitt fans that invade live in the 614 zip code so....we'll see how many bought on a chance of us playing them.

 

[EspenK]

Lundqvist has started 13 of 14 sitting out only against Edmonton. This with the Rangers having a backup who is having a better season statistically than Henrik(granted its on a smaller base). Over a span of 28 days so basically every other day.

 

[blahblah]

Lundqvist has started 13 of 14 sitting out only against Edmonton. This with the Rangers having a backup who is having a better season statistically than Henrik(granted its on a smaller base). Over a span of 28 days so basically every other day.

Did he start 4 in 6?

 

[Robert]

Why is this game more important than the Florida game? What if we won tonight with Bob and lost to Florida with Curtis? Would that have helped us more than if we beat Florida with Bob now?

Because the Flyers are under no pressure to beat the Penguins tomorrow... is all they have to do to take the third Metro seed is beat Carolina on Sunday...

 

[FANonymous]

Why is this game more important than the Florida game? What if we won tonight with Bob and lost to Florida with Curtis? Would that have helped us more than if we beat Florida with Bob now?

Winning tonight would've put more pressure on the Flyers tomorrow afternoon and would've let us know whether winning in Florida would've clinched a divisional spot for sure or if we'd still need some help. Now we have to pray for a lot of help from other teams. How well has that been going for us in this most recent stretch? We had a chance to force the issue, playing McBackup tonight showed that that wasn't important to the organization.

We should be gearing up for big important games, not shirking away from them. Especially at this time of year.

 

[blahblah]

Winning tonight would've put more pressure on the Flyers tomorrow afternoon and would've let us know whether winning in Florida would've clinched a divisional spot for sure or if we'd still need some help. Now we have to pray for a lot of help from other teams. How well has that been going for us in this most recent stretch? We had a chance to force the issue, playing McBackup tonight showed that that wasn't important to the organization.

We should be gearing up for big important games, not shirking away from them. Especially at this time of year.

You crossed the line there.

I knew this was going to happen.

 

[ca5150]

I still think we should have started Bob tonight. Cmac has been good overall, but tonight he let in a couple bad ones that I don't think Bob let's in. Not winning many games only scoring 2 goals though, no matter who is in net. It's not all on Cmac.

 

[Matthew]

Richards just wants to lull the Flyers into a false sense of security.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

You crossed the line there.

I knew this was going to happen.

Yeah. Me too.

 

[jackets4life]

I still think we should have started Bob tonight. Cmac has been good overall, but tonight he let in a couple bad ones that I don't think Bob let's in. Not winning many games only scoring 2 goals though, no matter who is in net. It's not all on Cmac.

Bottom line for me, if you're serious about catching Philly you have to play whoever gives us the best chance to do that. For me at least, our best chances would have been Bob tonight and Curtis against a much weaker Panthers team tomorrow. Even a tired Bob would have been better than what we saw tonight. Additionally, if we would have played Bob tonight, he would have had a nice stretch to rest. Now he has one less day to do so before the playoffs start assuming he's back in tomorrow. Obviously, I'm not in the room and don't know just how fatigued Bob was. If he needed this, he needed it and I can live with that.

 

[Robert]

Richards just wants to lull the Flyers into a false sense of security.

Yep... not sure who runs the roost in CBUS but they will out smart Philly... With this strategy the Flyers should lose two in a row giving Bob the confidence to beat Florida and beat Lunquvist in the playoffs.. (just joking)

 

[ca5150]

Bottom line for me, if you're serious about catching Philly you have to play whoever gives us the best chance to do that. For me at least, our best chances would have been Bob tonight and Curtis against a much weaker Panthers team tomorrow. Even a tired Bob would have been better than what we saw tonight. Additionally, if we would have played Bob tonight, he would have had a nice stretch to rest. Now he has one less day to do so before the playoffs start assuming he's back in tomorrow. Obviously, I'm not in the room and don't know just how fatigued Bob was. If he needed this, he needed it and I can live with that.

I agree, that's the one thing we'll never know, if Bob needed the rest, then you had to start Cmac. But let's remember, Bob had a month off during his injury, and another month where he played 3 games for the Olympics and he just had 8 days off from the flu. So I don't think fatigue is an issue with him. I think Richards thought he would get a big effort from his team in front of Cmac.