Observations XXI

[Armourboy]

Yeah definitely need to be adjusting the system with this crew. We need to be playing tight D and grinding the puck down low and going to the net to look for goals.

Yeah we need to go back to boring ass hockey for a while. We dont have the horses to run with teams atm.

 

[wadesworld]

..obviously the wide deflection goal killed us. saros had moved totally out of the goalmouth on that one for no reason. was actually totally outside the near post.

I came to post this comment.

To my untrained eye, Saros appears to be emulating Rinne of old. He's trying to make every save with incredible athleticism and getting way out of position. He's gotten away from what makes him so good when he's playing well - being extremely quiet in the crease and having insane quickness to react when he does have to move.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

I came to post this comment.

To my untrained eye, Saros appears to be emulating Rinne of old. He's trying to make every save with incredible athleticism and getting way out of position. He's gotten away from what makes him so good when he's playing well - being extremely quiet in the crease and having insane quickness to react when he does have to move.

I couldn't have said this any better.

I know we are only 30 games into the year, but if we don't earn at least 4 points in this home stand, I think you have to seriously consider making a big move to bring in more offensive talent. These next three games are extremely winnable. Colorado and Winnipeg also have three easy games ahead.

I don't think we can afford to wait till the deadline.

One last thing of note, there is not a single player I have been more disappointed in this season than Joey. We need him to stop thinking he's Joe Thornton and instead be a complete player like Malkin or even Eric Staal. He needs to stop looking at pass first and become that 20/40 or even 25/40 player we are paying him to be.

 

[Scoresberg]

Fortunately, we have a rather favorable schedule for the next two weeks. Personally, I just want to get into the playoffs no matter the position. The last two runs have shown us that it doesn't matter jackshit whether you win the PT or just squek in. Of course, our team is a top dog in the West but with the current lineup we're not gonna be in that conversation.

I don't think we need to be looking for that "perfect team where there are no holes". I think you have to give players room to grow as the season goes on rather than just replacing them with a big offensive name. We've made so many moves the last few years, and wasted so much assets. It's gotta be enough at some point.

 

[bdub24]

Oh my god the Preds charity auction had a gift basket of Lavys favorites and it has a bull mask!

 

[FossilFndr]

After this last west coast swing he figured that he did not need it anymore.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Gotta find a way to get four points in this home stand.

 

[drwpreds]

Gotta find a way to get four points in this home stand.

Yep- ordinarily I would want 3-0 on this one but considering our circumstances I would be thrilled with 2-1.

Just have to keep on surviving until January.

 

[Armourboy]

Basically if we can get 50% of the points right now you take it and don't look back.

 

[Scoresberg]

Again, that goal by Watson makes you scratch your head as to why he isn't on the powerplay. Exactly, the type of goals we'd need to be scoring on the PP. Creates a whole another dimension to our man advantage.

Solid effort by the guys, full 60 minutes but my goodness, were the Sens ever bad. They turtled the minute they scored and started skating again with 10 minutes left two goals back. I get it, they're injured as well but you have to at least try. Frustrating game to watch as a Sens fan, I'm sure.

Also, I think we should keep the Sissons-Bonino-Watson line together, even with all the guys back. That line has been really good on both ends of the ice and really consistent. Would be a nice 4th line going forward.

 

[GoldOnGold]

Again, that goal by Watson makes you scratch your head as to why he isn't on the powerplay. Exactly, the type of goals we'd need to be scoring on the PP. Creates a whole another dimension to our man advantage.

Solid effort by the guys, full 60 minutes but my goodness, were the Sens ever bad. They turtled the minute they scored and started skating again with 10 minutes left two goals back. I get it, they're injured as well but you have to at least try. Frustrating game to watch as a Sens fan, I'm sure.

Also, I think we should keep the Sissons-Bonino-Watson line together, even with all the guys back. That line has been really good on both ends of the ice and really consistent. Would be a nice 4th line going forward.

The Sissons-Bonino-Watson line has been great going back to last years playoffs. At this point they might be more proven than the Fiala - Turris - Smith line, which was not good when they were together to start the year. And they're the only guys on the team to ever go for tips it seems like.

The only thing is that I'm a bit iffy with having Jarnkrok as 3C. I think he's much more productive on the wing.

 

[Scoresberg]

The Sissons-Bonino-Watson line has been great going back to last years playoffs. At this point they might be more proven than the Fiala - Turris - Smith line, which was not good when they were together to start the year. And they're the only guys on the team to ever go for tips it seems like.

The only thing is that I'm a bit iffy with having Jarnkrok as 3C. I think he's much more productive on the wing.

Very true, unless they go out and acquire a cheap, rental, stop-gap 3C. Or you could try out Jarny on Sissons' spot and give Sissons the 3C. Bottom-6 like this:

Grimaldi/Tolvanen/Rinaldo - Sissons - Hartman
Jarnkrok - Bonino - Watson

 

[Pred303]

a grind it out, hard working, ugly game. the type of game we have to play right now.

..honestly a great defensive game after the first few minutes.
..Rinne despite the softest goal he's allowed this year was stellar from then on
..without a doubt the sissons-Watson line was our best. heck Watson might be our best player on the ice honestly
..got a good effort from johansen
..won't see a prettier give and go than the josi-ellis one
..great pk'ing, poor pp'ing. again.
..we need that one goal a game from our d-men with this forward group.
..smith is sort of an ugly, choppy skater. but he works awfully hard and is valuable to this team.
..the crowd was shocked into silence those first 10 minutes for sure.
..every win is important, hell every point is important to this team right now
..Tkachuk-ekholm had a thing going all game lol

 

[GoldOnGold]

Very true, unless they go out and acquire a cheap, rental, stop-gap 3C. Or you could try out Jarny on Sissons' spot and give Sissons the 3C. Bottom-6 like this:

Grimaldi/Tolvanen/Rinaldo - Sissons - Hartman
Jarnkrok - Bonino - Watson

At first, I was against putting Jarnkrok with Bonino and Watson, but then I remembered that Jarnkrok played great with Bonino and Hartnell last year.

I was also thinking the exact same thing about a cheap 3C, we could have lines like this:

Forsberg - Johansen - Arvidsson
Fiala - Turris - Smith (not sure if this line will come back when everybody is healthy again)
Hartman - 3c - Jarnkrok
Sissons - Bonino - Watson
Tolvanen

Looking around the league, my targets would be Chris Tierney (2 yrs left at 2.397), Kevin Hayes (1 at 5.175), or Marcus Johansson (1 at 4.583),

Other possibilities would be JG Pageau (2 yrs left at 3.1), Andreas Athanasiou (2 yrs left at 3), and Ryan Strome (2 at 3.1).

 

[42]

The Sissons-Bonino-Watson line has been great going back to last years playoffs. At this point they might be more proven than the Fiala - Turris - Smith line, which was not good when they were together to start the year. And they're the only guys on the team to ever go for tips it seems like.

The only thing is that I'm a bit iffy with having Jarnkrok as 3C. I think he's much more productive on the wing.

The Sissons-Bonino-Watson line is a 4th line? They are certainly better than Hartman - 3c - Jarnkrok. And the minutes they play is much more like 2nd/3rd line.

 

[triggrman]

The Sissons-Bonino-Watson line is a 4th line? They are certainly better than Hartman - 3c - Jarnkrok. And the minutes they play is much more like 2nd/3rd line.

don't get hung up on numbers, both are grinding type lines, label them however.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

don't get hung up on numbers, both are grinding type lines, label them however.

Yup, though since a Sissons-Bonino-Watson line is likely to get hard-matched against other teams' top lines, they'll more probably end up 2nd (or 3rd) in ES TOI.

 

[Scoresberg]

Yeah, you could go also

JOFA
Tolvanen/Grimaldi - Turris - Smith
Fiala - Jarnkrok - Hartman
Sissons - Bonino - Watson

Certainly, you could try different lineups to see how they match.

 

[Pred303]

7-7-1 in our last 15 games now.

 

[PredsV82]

7-7-1 in our last 15 games now.

With the players we are missing that's not terrible. If we can keep up that .500 pace until we start getting guys back we should stil be in a solid playoff spot. Anything over that is gravy. I just hope we dont wear Pekka out.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

7-7-1 in our last 15 games now.

Boy, it doesn't feel like that does it?

 

[Pred303]

0-5-1 on the road, 7-2-0 at home.in our last 15 games.

 

[drwpreds]

With the players we are missing that's not terrible. If we can keep up that .500 pace until we start getting guys back we should stil be in a solid playoff spot. Anything over that is gravy. I just hope we dont wear Pekka out.

Not only is it not terrible, but I actually think its pretty dang good. As shorthanded as we have been, you really can't ask for much more. We have somehow managed to go 7-5 in our last 12. Heck, even if we had our full roster we likely wouldn't have done a whole lot better than that.

We have been playing shorthanded now for almost half of our games. And the past 5 of course have been without all 4 of our big guns.

The fact that we are still sitting here in first place in the division and basically tied for the lead in the conference is almost mind-boggling considering the adversity.

The scary part is we are only 6 points ahead of the 9th seed in the West. Only 8 points separate first place and tenth place in the Western Conference.......

We just have to survive for about 2 to 3 more weeks- would be so huge if we can take both of these home games this week.

 

[drwpreds]

0-5-1 on the road, 7-2-0 at home.in our last 15 games.

The road thing is very strange. Started 8-0-0, now lost 6 straight.

We have not won a road game in over a month (November 10).

Crazy

 

[hockey diva]

Tolvanen sent back down.

We have 4 road games next week, including a back to back Ott/Chi