Observations XXI

[Mass]

Seriously?

The internet is fun.

 

[Scoresberg]

What a terrible loss.

 

[GeauxPreds1]

Completely irrelevant to a shootout discussion.

Career shootout numbers
Turris johansen Ellis
27-68. 9-31. 7-21
40% 29% 33%

Better?

 

[PredsV82]

Sometimes you just have to shake your head.

Need to beat Arizona, and come home and figure out the damn power play

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Seriously?

Wrong thread but sure I'll go with it .

I'm worried about PK who hasn't looked healthy all year (slow compared to last year).

I'm worried that if the top line doesn't score no one besides Smith and once in a blue moon Sissons will.

I'm worried about Ellis not scoring.

Power play. Enough said.

Worried about how much we rely on Pekka to save our bacon.

Having said that, this team is amazing. They have the best record in the league so they are obviously good. I just think there is something off/they haven't found that gear yet to take them to where we want them to be.

Something just seems a little off. Maybe that's just me.

 

[PredsV82]

No, Yoshi, you're right to worry. A team that is otherwise this good shouldnt have the glaring deficiencies its showing.

The comforting thing is we have a nice cushion in case a bad stretch comes along. Much preferable to spending the whole season trying to dig out of an early hole and hope to squeak into the postseason

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

I think anyone questioning who our starting goalie should be a few weeks ago has their answer now. This is a much better team with Rinne on the ice.

 

[Scoresberg]

All things considered, we played a great game last night, the way it ended though was heartbreaking. Our guys just didn't have enough left in the tank and Saros was below average.

Yes, we have problems but at the same time, we lead the league. This fan base is damn hard to please, and myself included, we could be taking the Sharks and the Jets to the cleaners two nights in a row and we'd still hear about the problems we have.

Every team has problems, it's November for crying out loud. It'd be dangerous for a team to play their best hockey right now. If all those things were clicking that Yoshi mentioned above, we'd be winning 7-0 night in night out.

The most important thing for me is that with all the problems, this team just knows how to win. Yes, it needs the goalie to play well, and yes, it needs its top line to click. But we're leading the whole league with absolutely horrifying powerplay and below average penalty kill. Those are things the team can get better at. But mentally, this team is strong and that's the main thing going forward.

 

[bdub24]

All things considered, we played a great game last night, the way it ended though was heartbreaking. Our guys just didn't have enough left in the tank and Saros was below average.

Yes, we have problems but at the same time, we lead the league. This fan base is damn hard to please, and myself included, we could be taking the Sharks and the Jets to the cleaners two nights in a row and we'd still hear about the problems we have.

Every team has problems, it's November for crying out loud. It'd be dangerous for a team to play their best hockey right now. If all those things were clicking that Yoshi mentioned above, we'd be winning 7-0 night in night out.

The most important thing for me is that with all the problems, this team just knows how to win. Yes, it needs the goalie to play well, and yes, it needs its top line to click. But we're leading the whole league with absolutely horrifying powerplay and below average penalty kill. Those are things the team can get better at. But mentally, this team is strong and that's the main thing going forward.

That was many things, but with the first period they had last night, the game was far from great. Perhaps you watched from the second period onward, while I shut it down after the first period ended, so we saw two very different teams though....

 

[Roman Yoshi]

All things considered, we played a great game last night, the way it ended though was heartbreaking. Our guys just didn't have enough left in the tank and Saros was below average.

Yes, we have problems but at the same time, we lead the league. This fan base is damn hard to please, and myself included, we could be taking the Sharks and the Jets to the cleaners two nights in a row and we'd still hear about the problems we have.

Every team has problems, it's November for crying out loud. It'd be dangerous for a team to play their best hockey right now. If all those things were clicking that Yoshi mentioned above, we'd be winning 7-0 night in night out.

The most important thing for me is that with all the problems, this team just knows how to win. Yes, it needs the goalie to play well, and yes, it needs its top line to click. But we're leading the whole league with absolutely horrifying powerplay and below average penalty kill. Those are things the team can get better at. But mentally, this team is strong and that's the main thing going forward.

I feel the need to point out I don't think this would happen. I don't think this team would be or is invincible once they hit all cylinders.

Again I think back to what Ellis said a while back about winning games we didn't deserve to win and then we went on a massive losing streak. I think we've been winning some games we didn't deserve to win (Dallas comes to mind).

 

[hockey diva]

Looking for a patron saint of power plays to intercede for us...

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

Looking for a patron saint of power plays to intercede for us...

PP is now hovering around 12.5%. For reference, the worst PP in league history for an entire season was just under 10%.

 

[Legionnaire11]

The Predators definitely have their issues, namely second scoring and the powerplay. But if you ever want to feel better about the various perceived problems we notice each night, just browse around the different HF team boards and read their game threads and general discussion threads, every team deals with this stuff and worse on a constant basis. It's extremely, extremely rare that an NHL team is healthy and playing well up and down the lineup and in all situations.

That said, fix the damn powerplay!!!

 

[Scoresberg]

I feel the need to point out I don't think this would happen. I don't think this team would be or is invincible once they hit all cylinders.

Again I think back to what Ellis said a while back about winning games we didn't deserve to win and then we went on a massive losing streak. I think we've been winning some games we didn't deserve to win (Dallas comes to mind).

How come we didn't deserve to win in Dallas? I think it was a very even game, perhaps us being the better team all along. Once again, the PP woes almost cost us there, like it did in Anaheim.

If a team, has its
1) PP and PK clicking
2) Top line clicking
3) Goalie playing like he should
4) Bottom lines scoring
5) Defensemen scoring

if all those things happen, like you expect then yeah, I think every team is invincible. You have to remember that every team has their problems, and our team has maybe the fewest in the whole league, hence the reason why we're leading the league. I think you're expectations towards this team are unreasonable. We can't have everything clicking at the same time. Sorry, if I come across aggressive that's not my intention.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Could also add that Arvidsson, Jarnkrok, Watson, and Hamhuis are not in the lineup... and now Subban is obviously sick or injured... so, yes, every team gets some injuries, but when you lose 1-goal or shootout games, it's probably fair to think that many regulars would make a difference.

I still think the one thing that really stands out is the PP. Players have ups and downs on an individual basis, and lines click and don't click at times, and hopefully that all mostly works itself out. But right now the PP is something that really seems broken and ineffectual outside of any typical ups-and-downs or individual player issues.

 

[Pred303]

of course i'm disappointed. but. win this next one and you leave this tough western trip with a 3-1-1 record, so one has to keep perspective. a couple quick thoughts;

..deep offensive teams can expose the third pair on the road. thought weber and irwin had poor games in general. each cost us a goal.
..losing subban for that long caused us to have to play them about 17 minutes, maybe 5 minutes longer than they should. that alone might have caused us to lose.
..dead legs that first period. we were swamped.
..admire the pride and effort it took to come back. dead legs cost the game
..saros. he's no rinne. not blaming him for the loss because so many of their shots were inside 15 feet all night.
..but his numbers are really falling. 2.94, .903
..not gonna second guess how we handled goalies this trip, but, i didn't necessarily agree with starting saros in the game before our first back to back.
..0 for 10 on the PP these two losses. 0 for 10. could have both been wins.
..i hate to see fiala handle the puck right now. like his hair is on fire.
..still not sure why smith acted mad after that weak goal. mad because he missed it with his stick? mad because he thought it might be called back because off the skate?
..we didn't play well, but we showed heart, so there's that.

 

[wadesworld]

..saros. he's no rinne. not blaming him for the loss because so many of their shots were inside 15 feet all night.

We have an interesting standard for judging Saros.

Martin Jones is apparently no Rinne either, because several of the shots he failed to stop were identical to the ones Saros failed to stop, and he gave up 4. But yet I doubt few here would say Saros is roughly equal to Martin Jones.

I'm not absolving Saros. I wish he'd made one more save, and I'm sure he does too. But we're awfully quick to judge him at times based on the what we think would have happened had Rinne played. It's quite possible the outcome would have been identical and Rinne's stats would have taken a huge hit. This of course is the difficulty in judging backup goaltenders.

That said, I certainly agree that as long as Rinne is healthy and maintaining his level of play, he remains the clear starter.

 

[Pred303]

We have an interesting standard for judging Saros.

Martin Jones is apparently no Rinne either, because several of the shots he failed to stop were identical to the ones Saros failed to stop, and he gave up 4. But yet I doubt few here would say Saros is roughly equal to Martin Jones..

not disagreeing with his performance in the game last night, we played some horrible hockey in front of him. the bad turnovers from fiala and forsberg, weber being backdoored, an odd man rush because weber went for the hit, a breakaway, and no one within 5 feet of a guy standing right in front of him for a deflection on the PK.

but bad luck or bad play in front of him he has had an .882 or below save percentage in 4 of his last 6 starts, given up 4 or more goals 4 times in those 6, and 3 or more in 5 of the 6. had an .882 save percentage in the last 6 with a 3.66 gaa.

 

[triggrman]

Fiala had a bad turnover to set up the first goal but Saros bit on the first move and had no shot after that, he shares some of the blame.

The last goal, even though it was a 2 on one, he was cheating back to the inside and left his blocker side exposed, giving Thornton too much room to shoot.

He could have definitely played those 2 better.

 

[Drake744]

Fiala had a bad turnover to set up the first goal but Saros bit on the first move and had no shot after that, he shares some of the blame.

The last goal, even though it was a 2 on one, he was cheating back to the inside and left his blocker side exposed, giving Thornton too much room to shoot.

He could have definitely played those 2 better.

I understand your point but I have a really hard time blaming Saros at all on the goal Fiala gave them. He could've played it better but I put that one beyond the category of "the goalie is there to cover for mistakes".

 

[FossilFndr]

One bad period and 2 horrible turn-overs and they still score 4 goals without Arvy, Calle, P.K., lines all mixed up, minimum sleep, back to back games without morning practice. The loss bothers me but considering everything it isn't embarrassing losing by 1 goal. And if P.K. is sick with virus or something bad enough to leave the game then others may be ill too to a lower extent.

 

[Pred303]

it all gets lost, but Grimaldi's goal was a potentially big goal. and a nice breakaway. glad to see him net one.

 

[Outofbodyinhungary]

Felt nervous every time Irwin was out on the ice, Weber at times too but at least he can jump into the rush somewhat effectively. Wouldn’t mind seeing what’s the market for a 6th dman to play with hamhuis for the playoffs (not looking for a trade now of course). Would be nice to have a third pairing that were not worried about. I don’t even know what’s out there in that market but would be nice to add a vet at that 6th spot.

 

[King Weber]

Felt nervous every time Irwin was out on the ice, Weber at times too but at least he can jump into the rush somewhat effectively. Wouldn’t mind seeing what’s the market for a 6th dman to play with hamhuis for the playoffs (not looking for a trade now of course). Would be nice to have a third pairing that were not worried about. I don’t even know what’s out there in that market but would be nice to add a vet at that 6th spot.

Fabbro when his season's done?

 

[MrJoshua]

Fabbro when his season's done?

Maybe it's just me, but I think Hamhuis and Weber make a very serviceable third pair.