Missed the game tonight ... pretty disappointed we lost. Did we play as bad as the scoreboard says? And how did Reilly Smith look tonight, a -3 doesn't look that good
Morrow should be the first forward scratched when guys get healthy.
Benn is a beast. Eriksson would be a 100+ point player if he could score on about half as many primo chances as he gets.
Reilly Smith needs top six minutes.
This defense is bad, bad, bad. Goaltending tonight didn't help but then the players in front of Lehtonen didn't do him any favors.
I really wish Vincour's hands could catch up to the rest of his physical skills. I'm not ready to write him off but man he had some decent looks on net.
There didn't seem to be a sense of urgency at times and once again relying on this team to show up when it matters seems like a bad bet. San Jose will tell. Two teams that don't look like they want it but someone will get in by default.
what's the point of even attending the game in San Jose, they might as well fly that ****ing private jet right back to Dallas and start preparing some 4 days in advance for that big home game against the Sharks.
And how did Reilly Smith look tonight, a -3 doesn't look that good
Meh, some of that was the garbage time piling on. He looked both good and bad, or in other words like a young player. He had a decent stuff-play chance and got another opportunity to show off his wrister from the slot area when he hit the post. He also embarrassingly lost the puck off his stick into no man's land while trying to make a move and had some scrambling moments in the defensive zone figuring out his assignments.
Morrow should be the first forward scratched when guys get healthy.
Benn is a beast. Eriksson would be a 100+ point player if he could score on about half as many primo chances as he gets.
Reilly Smith needs top six minutes.
This defense is bad, bad, bad. Goaltending tonight didn't help but then the players in front of Lehtonen didn't do him any favors.
I really wish Vincour's hands could catch up to the rest of his physical skills. I'm not ready to write him off but man he had some decent looks on net.
There didn't seem to be a sense of urgency at times and once again relying on this team to show up when it matters seems like a bad bet. San Jose will tell. Two teams that don't look like they want it but someone will get in by default.
What a terrible game.
Vincour will never develop to more than a 3rd liner, more likely a 4th liner. He's like Wandell 2.0. Guys on here and other places give him way way too much credit. Anything beyond is purely a pipe dream. It's no wonder he was pulled off the Benn line, why he was ever put on it is beyond me.
Replace the name Vincour with Eriksson his rookie and 2nd year and you've got a path to follow. The kid spent half the year on the 4th line, half the year with Ott, a few games with Benn and several with Wandell and Burish as linemates. Half the time we struggle to get out of our own zone and you wonder why the kid struggles?
You may be right that he doesn't develop into a scorer but to outright call him a failure as a top six player as a 21 year old is ridiculous. He really could have done with an entire AHL season focusing on this offense. This is also a kid that due to injuries and coaching decisions has never played more than 70 games in a season since coming over to NA and you expect him to be fully developed already?
As long as he continues to be win puck battles in the offensive zone and learns to better read his linemates, two things very doable, the offense could come. Regardless as a 5th round pick a physical 3rd line winger is a great draft/development win for the franchise and shows the turnaround in draft strategy that targets talent rather than grit aka Todd Harvey.
Meh, some of that was the garbage time piling on. He looked both good and bad, or in other words like a young player. He had a decent stuff-play chance and got another opportunity to show off his wrister from the slot area when he hit the post. He also embarrassingly lost the puck off his stick into no man's land while trying to make a move and had some scrambling moments in the defensive zone figuring out his assignments.
I think his worst moment was on the Alberts goal. I'm not sure if Alberts was his responsibility, but even if he wasn't, it didn't seem like Smith had anyone leading up to the goal.
Outside of that, he looked like he did actually belong with Benn. He won one or two puck battles in the offensive zone in the 3rd to keep pressure on. Aside from the gaffe where he just lost the puck like you mentioned he had some nice passing plays with Benn to try and create offense as well. Plus, he showed off that shot after someone was actually able to get him the puck.
The important thing to me is he actually looked like he improved the Benn line unlike Morrow, Burish, or Vincour have recently. Someone other than Benn was actually getting pucks on net and making plays rather than missing wide open nets or getting off weak attempts at the net. He may not be the perfect option (ideally ... at least IMO ... trying to make an effective line this late in the season with a player who one week ago was in the NCAA isn't your top choice), but based on the the 3rd period last night he is probably the best option.
He just looks like a rookie. We can't expect him to be playing a perfect defensive game less than a week after joining the team.
He's definitely showing some promise, though. We've already got 2 deadly shots, another one can only help.
Right, but you can't expect Gully to throw a liability out there playing Top 6 minutes, but that isn't what anyone was saying about Smith, at least IMO.
The -3 wasn't an indication of poor play on his part in the defensive zone, at least IMO, other than the example I gave of the Alberts' goal.
I think people were just making the point that he was far from perfect, but at the same time is playing like he should be getting that extra ice time. You can't count on the Rib's line popping 3 a night, and while Benn looks like he's on a different level right now, it sure would help if he had someone who could also finish a play.
Right, but you can't expect Gully to throw a liability out there playing Top 6 minutes, but that isn't what anyone was saying about Smith, at least IMO.
The -3 wasn't an indication of poor play on his part in the defensive zone, at least IMO, other than the example I gave of the Alberts' goal.
I think people were just making the point that he was far from perfect, but at the same time is playing like he should be getting that extra ice time. You can't count on the Rib's line popping 3 a night, and while Benn looks like he's on a different level right now, it sure would help if he had someone who could also finish a play.
I have a feeling he was just planning on giving him a couple shifts there to really test him, and just left him there once the game went to ****.
