I love the internet after we win! Tons of great articles and Preds love. When we lose, I typically act like the internet doesn't exist until the next game. Go Preds!
so Fisher scores a goal and has controlled the puck well for long stretches on the PP... but he's playing terribly and needs to sit?
Sometimes I feel like i'm watching a different game than everyone else. If the Preds could find an open shooting lane on the PP Fisher might have an assist or two tonight.
I think it's just compounded over time. Fish should be one of our outstanding players, especially in the playoffs. Since his awesome play in December and January, he's been nonexistent and not the 1st/2nd line center he should be. Hopefully, his 1st goal of the playoffs last night will light a fire.
I love the internet after we win! Tons of great articles and Preds love. When we lose, I typically act like the internet doesn't exist until the next game. Go Preds!
Lucky is Yip's goal in the first game taking a weird bounce off the glass. The first goal was caused by hustle and a great forecheck by our guys. Smith got himself out of position because we were pressing so hard on him and our guys made him pay. Same thing with the second goal, hard work and the only thing that was lucky was the puck going off of Smith's stick. If he doesn't put his stick out there, SK buries that chance anyway.
Tonight's performance was a team effort. Everyone played D, everyone gave up their body to block shots, the team forechecked hard, the big players played big.
I'm curious, what do we need to do to win this series at this point?
If you look at some of our previos playoff losses, the team was built the same way-- good goalie, good forecheck, opportunistic scoring. That won us some games vs Vancouver, Chicago, Detroit but in the end we didn't create enough offense to win the series. Granted Phoenix doesn't have the firepower of those teams.
I think we will need to create more offense than we did last night to win the series. Rinne is also going to have to continue to play similar to how he did in game 3, and our D can not have the game 2 mistake laden performance.
I don't know what Radulov did, and like I'll wait to pass judgement until we hopefully hear the truth. But I don't htink we should keep him out. #1) Trotz said it was a one game suspension. #2) Radulov was one of our better players vs Detroit and created tons of chances gm 1 vs Phx. He didn't have a good game 2 but the same could be said for most of the team.
If you look at some of our previos playoff losses, the team was built the same way-- good goalie, good forecheck, opportunistic scoring. That won us some games vs Vancouver, Chicago, Detroit but in the end we didn't create enough offense to win the series. Granted Phoenix doesn't have the firepower of those teams.
I think we will need to create more offense than we did last night to win the series. Rinne is also going to have to continue to play similar to how he did in game 3, and our D can not have the game 2 mistake laden performance.
I don't know what Radulov did, and like I'll wait to pass judgement until we hopefully hear the truth. But I don't htink we should keep him out. #1) Trotz said it was a one game suspension. #2) Radulov was one of our better players vs Detroit and created tons of chances gm 1 vs Phx. He didn't have a good game 2 but the same could be said for most of the team.
Obviously it wasn't offense that lost us games 1 & 2. I don't think that is the answer.
Phoenix has a great team system...they make entries tough, they block a lot of shots, and they collapse in front of the net making it very difficult to get quality chances on rebounds or simply "throwing the puck to the net." They are like a more skilled version of Minnesota. A frustrating team to play against.
Scoring 8 goals in 3 games against that team is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, this series is one overtime goal away from being 2-1 Preds.
Phoenix beat -- no -- they killed us at our own game in game 2. While creating offense and scoring goals should always be in the picture, I don't think this series is as simple as creating more offense and scoring. We've shown that when we do that, we tend to be more lax defensively -- and we get burned. Phoenix -- like us -- is a very opportunistic team, and they thrive off of forcing mistakes.
Our goal as a team should be to ice the most focused players who are going to make the fewest mistakes. I would venture that at least 2/3 of the goals scored in this series can be attributed to a major and preventable mistake made by one team or the other.
And I don't want to knock Radulov too much, but I'm not sure if the style that we are forced to play suits him. This isn't the Detroit series, where there is more open ice, more time to make moves, create chances, and use puckhandling as a means of controlling the game. This is a hard, gritty game where you have to get your nose dirty. I don't mean to say that Radulov isn't going to give a greater effort if he is inserted back into the lineup...but I think the way that Phoenix plays frustrates players like Radulov, and more or less turns him into a turnover machine.
Andrei Kostitsyn, on the other hand, doesn't seem to mind playing a more physical checking game. He's a bigger body, and he seems to adapt well to our style. He's not as cutesy with the puck, and he's shown that he is more than willing to go to the areas that will lead to greater scoring chances.
I'm not suggesting that Rads sit out the rest of the series...but I think he should take on a different sort of role. Perhaps put him on the 3rd line with Colin Wilson (I think Wilson has earned his ice time so far) and see if those two can create some offensive chemistry.
I also think it's time to sit Brandon Yip for at least a game. Not that he's playing poorly...but I think he's due for a rest. Other guys have been patiently sitting on the bench, waiting for their time. And for the most part, they've shown up when given the chance.
I think Trotz needs to continue to rotate as many players as he can, to keep the bench guys hungry and focused.
The offense will come...but with playing Phoenix, I think the defense-first philosophy is a must. Otherwise, they're going to beat us at our own game. Go with what works.
Phoenix beat -- no -- they killed us at our own game in game 2. While creating offense and scoring goals should always be in the picture, I don't think this series is as simple as creating more offense and scoring. We've shown that when we do that, we tend to be more lax defensively -- and we get burned. .
Is it possible to have a team that creates more offense AND is solid defensively AND has good goaltending? IMO, that's what stanley cup winning are made out of.
I think we can, and we saw that vs Detroit for the most part. We were on the winning side of 3-2 games for a change, and Radulov certainly played a part in that. I don't think his defense was bad and he had a high compete level.
Game 2 was crap for most everyone. If we play like we did in game 2 (Rinne, Klein, Legwand, Radulov, SK among others) we will lose. It's way to easy to use Radulov as a scapegoat for game 2 but there were plenty of people who made worse mistakes.
IMO, we need Radulov's offensive ability to truly win it all. Everyone is pissed because he broke team rules (whatever it was), and rightfully so. He was given a 2nd chance and he messed up again. I'm very curious to what the exact details are. Was he 30 minutes late on cerfew after having a drink we dinner (like some reports) or was he at bars till 4am like other reports (BTW, bars in Scottsdale close at 2).
Time will tell, but we need his offensive ability IMO. And we need him to compete 60 minutes. We need others to compete 60 minutes as well; plenty of players have had and up and down efforts this POs.
I love the internet after we win! Tons of great articles and Preds love. When we lose, I typically act like the internet doesn't exist until the next game. Go Preds!
You act like the internet doesn't exist after a loss. Imagine what I do
- We need to bury our open chances. It's good to get the puck on net and get some bounces, but we had a few open chances that we just didn't bury tonight.
- Yip needs to sit for the PP and let Halishuck work in front of the net. He has better skills with the puck and passing as well as more grit and determination on the inside. Standing in front of the net is great, but you gotta have that quick reactionary stick to be able to bury some pucks from that position.
- Our PP needs to stop trying to work it into the middle for the point blank shot. They are giving us the point set-up and crashing the net. We need to tee it up from the point or the high slot and go in for the rebounds. Second chances are where it's at.
- Mike Smith actually played pretty decent this game. Despite the mental lapse for the 1st goal his play was pretty darn good. Burying chances on him will continue to deflate him. He doesn't seem to handle adversity very well in games where he is trailing.
- The Coyotes can't win a game when trailing by 2 or more goals. Simple, score first, and get more than one and they become a much easier team to play against. Once they are behind...they start getting to aggressive and allow some open areas in their defense. We exploited that a lot this game where we caught their defenders wandering too far up and had some odd man rushes.
- Even without AK and Rads we played a very good offensive game. I wouldn't mind seeing them both back for game 4 and perhaps the message will have sunk in. I also very much liked Wilson's play this game, he sacrificed the body a few times on shifts and played some solid D rather than trying to be a puck-hog and go for breaks on offense. I think this ultimately led to him not being a huge offensive presence, still refreshing to see him step-up and do his assignment all game.
If you look at some of our previos playoff losses, the team was built the same way-- good goalie, good forecheck, opportunistic scoring. That won us some games vs Vancouver, Chicago, Detroit but in the end we didn't create enough offense to win the series. Granted Phoenix doesn't have the firepower of those teams.
I think we will need to create more offense than we did last night to win the series. Rinne is also going to have to continue to play similar to how he did in game 3, and our D can not have the game 2 mistake laden performance.
I don't know what Radulov did, and like I'll wait to pass judgement until we hopefully hear the truth. But I don't htink we should keep him out. #1) Trotz said it was a one game suspension. #2) Radulov was one of our better players vs Detroit and created tons of chances gm 1 vs Phx. He didn't have a good game 2 but the same could be said for most of the team.
OK, let me throw something out at you.
First series we:
Win 3-2
Lose 3-2
Win 3-2
Win 3-1
Win 2-1
This series we:
Lose 4-3
Lose 5-3
Win 2-0
So basically anytime we give up 3 or more goals we lose and anytime we hold an opponent to 2 goals or under we win. We have scored 3 goals 6 times in the playoffs and gone 4-2 with the two losses in this series. This team is built on 3-2 games and we have to win those. If we are giving up 4 or 5 goals in a game, it won't matter how much offense we put up.
While I agree it would be great to get more offensive chances and opportunities, I don't want that at the expense of what we do well, which is team D, heavy forechecking and capitalizing on the other teams mistakes. This is what made us successful this year, the type of game we played last night. When we are skating and forechecking hard, we are tough to play against. Very tough.
We have always needed more offense but any time we try to play that way our team defense struggles.
I give a 4th star to the laser light show before the game last night. Did anyone else enjoy it. The Nashville skyline they did was my favorite part. Very cool.
I give a 4th star to the laser light show before the game last night. Did anyone else enjoy it. The Nashville skyline they did was my favorite part. Very cool.
Amen. For a second, I thought they were showing the one rendition of the nucks logo, but then realized..IT'S A CATFISH!! Beautiful.
It answered the question that the first two games we weren't playing the style of play that could best help us win those games against this Coyotes team. The Preds adjusted their play in the third game and it helped them. Who ever is put in the lineup the next game will need to adjust their play to how the Coyotes play and what will give them the best chance to win against them.
Yeah we got the win but I think we made fewer mistakes in tonight's game. Preds still need to play better in order to win this series. We got lucky on both goals and needed to generate more offense. Phoenix will sit back next game if we play the same people. Radulov needs to be back in
Also Yip on the PP makes me want to punch kittens
Hmm... About that generating more offense. Called it.
