thats why we will NEVER win a cup with trotz and our style of play and players. the difference between the skill of CHI and us is huge. Rinne just makes us look decent.
thats why we will NEVER win a cup with trotz and our style of play and players. the difference between the skill of CHI and us is huge. Rinne just makes us look decent.
Anytime Chicago wants to give us their budget, I'm sure we'd be happy to sign equivalent talent.
thats why we will NEVER win a cup with trotz and our style of play and players. the difference between the skill of CHI and us is huge. Rinne just makes us look decent.
You're making a comparison of a healthy Hawks team and our depleted forward corps? On a night where we score four?
talk about a glass half full or half empty game....
half full:
we score four goals with no Fisher or SK
we get a point on the road against the division leader
PK is looking awesome
Rinne with numerous amazing saves to keep us in the game
half empty
we score four goals and still lose
PK was awesome because we took a buttload of penalties
despite being so awesome 98% of the time Rinne still let in a couple of softies tonite
if you had told me before the game that we'd get a point, Id have been pleased, but if you'd told me we'd score 4 goals and we'd still lose I'd have said you are crazy.
meh... take the point, head west, and hope Fisher and SK are healed...
All things considered I am pleased with a point. Chicago is a much better team than we are, especially with our missing players.
Agreed. All things considered, it's disappointing to not go away with 2 points, but this team, even depleted and making some bonehead plays, is a far cry from what we saw the first week or two. Time to payback the Yotes for that embarrassment of a home opener.
Would love to hear from some of you geniuses defending McCrappan's contribution to the team tonight.
thats a little harsh, dont you think?
I suspect that had we been at full strength he would have been a scratch against the goonless, massively skilled hawks, but as it was we only had 12 healthy forward bodies even with the Thang callup. Sometimes **** just happens, man.. he only played 4 minutes
I suspect that had we been at full strength he would have been a scratch against the goonless, massively skilled hawks, but as it was we only had 12 healthy forward bodies even with the Thang callup. Sometimes **** just happens, man.. he only played 4 minutes
I think being stretched that thin was ultimately a huge factor. Sure, we missed the talent of Fish, SK and Spaling, but more than that, we had 3 forwards combine for a total of 18 minutes ToI. You could tell as the 3rd dragged on and we went into OT that the team was a little gassed, especially up against the speed of the Hawks, and having to kill all those penalties.
Was 23 really out for overtime? With who? I guess I missed that. Legwand, Wilson....Smith, Erat....Smithson, Halischuk.....Legwand, Halischuk for the goal against?
I suspect that had we been at full strength he would have been a scratch against the goonless, massively skilled hawks, but as it was we only had 12 healthy forward bodies even with the Thang callup. Sometimes **** just happens, man.. he only played 4 minutes
That's the problem. This team decided to add McCrappan and carry him instead of an actual hockey player. They get in situations were they have to play a non-skill player like McCrappan due to injuries, end up limiting his minutes because he sucks, and they end up playing at a huge disadvantage because they're basically playing a man short for the game.
In other words, you get this post below which states the point pretty clearly:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Duke
I think being stretched that thin was ultimately a huge factor. Sure, we missed the talent of Fish, SK and Spaling, but more than that, we had 3 forwards combine for a total of 18 minutes ToI. You could tell as the 3rd dragged on and we went into OT that the team was a little gassed, especially up against the speed of the Hawks, and having to kill all those penalties.
That's the problem. This team decided to add McCrappan and carry him instead of an actual hockey player. They get in situations were they have to play a non-skill player like McCrappan due to injuries, end up limiting his minutes because he sucks, and they end up playing at a huge disadvantage because they're basically playing a man short for the game.
In other words, you get this post below which states the point pretty clearly:
Huge disadvantage? I'd suggest you check yourself...Chicago dressed John Scott tonight and played him a grand total of 2:45 (4 shifts). They had last line change tonight, which limits how often you use your fourth line anyhow, and McGrattan played two more shifts than Scott did, had a shot blocked and blocked one of his own in 4:09.
Ergo, the Predators and Hawks essentially played all night with 11 forwards apiece and if anything, got more use out of McGrattan than Chicago did with Scott.
I really don't understand where you think we're going to get some offensive hot shot from to dress as our 13th forward, nor do I understand why so many people have blinders on regarding McGrattan's skill level. Yes, he's a heavyweight enforcer. He's one of the meanest and toughest in the game. However, when the puck comes to him, he doesn't handle it like a hand grenade, and can actually read the play, and make the correct decisions when the puck comes his way.
The team is playing with a lot more confidence physically with McGrattan in the lineup. I'm sorry if some don't see it that way, but you ask anyone in the locker room and they point to McGrattan's presence as a key reason for that. Stortini didn't get it done the first two nights and teams took a lot of liberties with us and we simply backed down. We aren't backing down any longer and as we saw against Anaheim, when they screwed with us, we didn't hesitate to go right back at them.
Very few players contribute 82 games per year, especially guys on the fourth line...McGrattan might not have had an impact tonight, but it was far from his fault that we lost or that Chicago outskilled us by a country mile...
I'm still not sure why Hillen was even on the ice for OT. It's only 5 minutes. There are better options.
Good road game overall. Need to tighten up defensively though. Glad we got some scoring support to make it a game.
We played good positional defense, we just couldn't clear the puck out and invited Chicago to apply enormous pressure to Rinne, who can only do so much. I do agree about Hillen, though. He has no business being on the ice in a five minute overtime.
We played well - much, much better than I expected us to against a team that totally outclassed us (even without the injuries, really) - but I think the seven penalties and two 5-on-3s really wore us down and we couldn't keep up at even strength. Bergfors got beaten like a drum on defense and should be scratched ASAP. Rinne gave up five goals but still made some phenomenal saves. Hornqvist played exceptionally well, as did Smith.
If you would've told me before the game that we still got a point with some of our main forwards out, and the Hawks fully loaded and healthy, I'd say hell yes! Especially considering the penalty situation in the 3rd, I'm ecstatice we got a point. Obviously the Hawks are massively talented so we have to take what we can get.
