He's not done. The guy has only played 13 games the last 2 seasons up until this season. I know we are passed the half-way point but it's going to take awhile for him to get back to his standards. And honestly, he hasn't been that bad, he's had like 2 real bad games, in philly and in carolina. For instance last game he allowed 4 goals but you couldn't blame him for any of them. I find it funny though that even when he plays real well no one even says anything, matter of fact people still find ways to knock him when he won and played well. I love Poulin, I think he's great and could be our goaltender of the future, and I want him to succeed, but I would bet anything that the fluke goal off Hamonics stick that he allowed tonight if that were DP in net guaranteed people would blame DP for it, which is totally ridiculous.
One of the biggest things to learn from this board is that just a mention of DP incites a lot of emotion. No reason to mention him when Poulin should be receiving credit for tonight's win.
Congrats to the kid. He really seems to have the composure of a seasoned pro out there. Let's hope he can maintain it rather than a certain babied 21 year old Center.
weeknight games against unpopular teams are the kiss of death however. i expect around 12k tonight
I'm guessing maybe 6-7k. Easy peasy getting there. Took 15 mins even in the nasty weather.
Good game for the Isles. Grabner does too many Kovalchukian I'm-hoping-for-a-quick-rush circles at the blue line when the puck is in the defensive zone for my taste, but he does generate scoring chances with his speed.
Poulin seems to have problems early in a game. Then he settles down and plays very solid. He needs to work on his starts and early game focus.
Agrred. I thought the work he got during the All-Star break was a great idea. He didn't look over his head tonight. I think over all he needs to work on his "seeing" lanes and control the puck better. But tonight he looked very good. Hopefully his progress continues.
Poulin seems to have problems early in a game. Then he settles down and plays very solid. He needs to work on his starts and early game focus.
Maybe instead of normal warmup the team should split into an orange & blue half-ice mini-scrimmage -- let Poulin work it out before facing shots from the other team.
Agrred. I thought the work he got during the All-Star break was a great idea. He didn't look over his head tonight. I think over all he needs to work on his "seeing" lanes and control the puck better. But tonight he looked very good. Hopefully his progress continues.
And he didn't lose his stick once.
The first game or two when he lost his stick and jumped back and made great saves i thought to myself, 'Wow this kid has talent'. But then it happened at least once every game, that was a little nerve racking.
Actually, he did once, but it went into the goal and he was able to grab it back quickly.
My Bad. Don't get me wrong I love watching this kid play, but losing his stick once a game is a horrible habit. I am just glad he broke the 'goal in the first 5 minutes' routine.
Weird, I could have sworn Poulin played last night yet all the talk is around DP again. Hmmmm, wonder why? Its pretty simple IMO. I think MOST fans are rooting for him to get better and become somewhat of a goalie. I know I am. I would have zero problem with Poulin and DP as my goalies going forward if the kid continues to play like he has. DP will probably never be that 60-65 game guy anymore. If he can battle through half a season and split the time I would have no probvlem with that at all. He gets better, THE ISLES GET BETTER. Thats the bottom line.
The game was well played by the boys after a somehwat boring and lethargic first period. I thought the Grabner-Nielsen-Okposo line looked pretty good as did the MM-JT-PAP line. Those lines were swarming the net. Of course it helped that ATL looked like the Isles do most night in their zone with soft passes and leaving the front of the net wide open. But, give the Isles credit they pushed the play for the last 40 minutes. Bailey is still a mess as is Comeau.
Talking about the Goalie nonsense is just overshadowing the game that we just won:
Poulin had a solid game, I don't know if I've ever seen Okposo play like that to be honest...I was very happy and somewhat shocked to see how strong he was on the puck so soon after coming back. The team played fairly sound defense for most of the game. The MM-JT-PAP line played really well IMO, I slam the guy when he makes boneheaded plays so I have to give PAP a little love when he plays well...He seemed really comfortable out there last night, ALMOST like he belonged
About the goalies, if DP was in there last night I would give him just as much credit as Poulin...Hopefully DP plays well tonight. I think everyone here wants the team to win whether its DP or Poulin so can we all just get over this S**t already?
....I thought that myself last night.
