Tampa Bay @ Carolina: Nine-Nine!

[Canes]

more-so the tending of the other goals

Same difference, our offense has made Vasi's life pretty easy. He has outplayed Ned for sure but not by much. I feel Ned has had to make a few more high difficulty saves.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Honestly, I think it comes down to puck luck more than anything. You need it to go far in the playoffs, and the Canes have zero right now. I know for a fact we've hit at least 3 posts in the past two games, and in close games like that, those matter.

Between that and the fact that our passes are JUST a bit off with every breakout or rush, and it's not looking great.

 

[The Faulker 27]

What?

Huh?

 

[Roboturner913]

The tone in the fanbase right now is not that of a team that lost consecutive 2-1 games. Hopefully the team has the mental resilience to stick with the plan and grind this thing out.

I think because it feels so familiar to the last two years, but we don't even have a POS like Marchand or McAvoy to hate on.

I'm not trying to be negative or defeatist, I'd like to think I'm generally speaking one of the more optimistic people here. I'm not even down on the team, I just think they're better than than us and there's maybe not much that can be done about it except keep the core of this team together for the next 8-10 years and hope we can eventually be something better than the new San Jose.

 

[To Be Determined]

i've got the feeling the canes have one game in tampa with a crazy scoring explosion, like they hang 6 on 'em.

but the other game plays out similar to games 1 and 2. we come home and politely bow out. maaaaaaaybe get flukey and force a sixth game, but that is the most optimism i can work up right now.

 

[Chrispy]

folks,

goaltending

If you told me before game 1 that Ned would give up 2 goals in each of the first 2 games I’d have been very happy.

You can’t expect Ned to shut out Tampa regularly. They need to score on Vasilevsky.

 

[Svechhammer]

Well I hope Svech! calmed them down

Too bad we still need one more

It helped.

But there was nearly 3 fights at the end. A few motherf***ers yelled at each other. Good times

 

[Svechhammer]

folks,

goaltending

...is not the problem

Not gonna win with 2 goals scored over 6 periods

 

[Sigurd]

The Canes made so many basic mistakes over and over again with shooting, and passing, that frankly I didn't think they deserved to win tonight's game. Supporting evidence of this is already during the 1st intermission, NBC's commentators pointed out how many shots the Canes missed.

The great, all mighty Vasi doesn't need to worry about the puck when our players don't know how to handle it. The Canes looked like they couldn't hit the side of a barn tonight. 2 on 1, or one of our guys alone in front of Vasi, etc? Nope.

With Trocheck probably injured, I feel even less optimistic about this series; that's on top of Nino of course. Also, that first goal Ned let in was worse than the soft one he let in last game. f***ing charmin toilet paper soft. But hey, we scored 1 goal with 1:30 left. sO cLosE!

 

[Svechhammer]

23 total giveaways in the game tonight.

Holy hell that's bad

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Anyone who says goaltending is the issue needs to give their head a shake. We have 1 goal from our forwards in this series. That's not going to cut it.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I think because it feels so familiar to the last two years, but we don't even have a POS like Marchand or McAvoy to hate on.

Positive note: this series hasn’t been anywhere near as dirty as it could have been. If anything it’s one of the cleanest playoff series I can remember.

 

[HisIceness]

It helped.

But there was nearly 3 fights at the end. A few motherf***ers yelled at each other. Good times

Sounds like the days of the Raleigh Icecaps

 

[The Faulker 27]

The first goal was stoppable but nevertheless it's just 1. Second one Skjei got beat, and then gambled with the stick check that didn't work. Again, it's 2 goals. The first game felt closer. This game was not the answer I was expecting. It felt more like 5-1 loss than 2-1. Somehow that gives me a little hope. The Canes need to figure it out, and we need more from our top players.

 

[Brock Anton]

This is a repeat of the series’ against Boston. Our star players just can’t consistently show up against top level opposition.

 

[Identity404]

If this the collective consious of this board was the coach. Mrazek would have played this or the next game and Tampa would most likely dunk on him after coming off the bench cold after a couple of weeks.

But maybe he can just will the team infront of him to play better by just being in net?

I think we have all of our eggs in Neds basket at this point.

 

[chaz4hockey]

...is not the problem

Not gonna win with 2 goals scored over 6 periods

true but it’s a 1-1 game for both of them and Canes could have won both.

staff made a mistake not giving Mrazek one of the Preds games in Nashville and goofing Ned a break. But….of all the remaining teams left we have the worst GT of the bunch. GT wins cups…letting in soft goals at the wrong time ads to playing golf early.

 

[Svechhammer]

Sounds like the days of the Raleigh Icecaps

Accurate

 

[Chrispy]

Rod’s not seeing the same thing we are, saying they played very even and “just didn’t get the bounces.”

If he doesn’t make some strategic changes for game 3 this will be over fast.

 

[SliceNDice92]

Tampa just made that game look so f***ing easy. This half ass effort shit won’t cut it. And Jesus Christ do they practice shooting at practice??? Holy shit I could’ve made those saves when they had good shot chances. Just shoot more and more at vasys logo on his jersey and I’m sure one will squeak through next season. They’re f***ing toast.

 

[Roboturner913]

Positive note: this series hasn’t been anywhere near as dirty as it could have been. If anything it’s one of the cleanest playoff series I can remember.

And that's frustrating too, because we won't do the kind of nonsense a team like Nashville did to keep itself in a series against a team that was clearly on another level from them.

This team, on paper, looks like it was constructed for the playoffs, but when you look at the way they actually play, not as much. Not that we're baby poop soft like Toronto, but playing it clean only works if you have better talent than the other team. And we just don't.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Goaltending is an issue. The issue is that Tampa’s is the best in the world. Ned (or anyone else) isn’t.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I think Vasilevskiy has played well, but he is not doing what Saros did last round.

We don’t need to beat Vasi. We need to beat Tampa. That means clean breakouts, winning 50/50 battles, and cutting out the cheap little mistakes that auto-clear the zone to help their PK.

If we can’t fix that stuff, it really doesn’t matter who the goalie is. They could literally put any NHL goalie in the net and win these games, based on what’s happening outside the crease. Not egregiously poor play, but little hiccups that wipe out opportunities to get momentum going.

 

[tarheelhockey]

And that's frustrating too, because we won't do the kind of nonsense a team like Nashville did to keep itself in a series against a team that was clearly on another level from them.

This team, on paper, looks like it was constructed for the playoffs, but when you look at the way they actually play, not as much. Not that we're baby poop soft like Toronto, but playing it clean only works if you have better talent than the other team. And we just don't.

This is the dilemma that leads a lot of teams to pick up a certain type of player in the offseason after their breakout.

 

[The Faulker 27]

Positive note: this series hasn’t been anywhere near as dirty as it could have been. If anything it’s one of the cleanest playoff series I can remember.

I think maybe that's a symptom to the problem.