GDT: Game 22: vs San Jose, 11/28

[BigG44]

Originally Posted by Kritter471

I can't speak to this game (family over, only saw the very tail end and even then, not really), but the offensive blueline is a terrible place to turn it over, especially if the entire team is transitioning forward. You hear hockey announcers talk a lot about how the worst place to turn it over is either the offensive or defensive blue line.

I went back and looked at it.

I’ll admit I’m a Brunnstrom apologist, but I don’t think the goal was his fault.

Niskanen passed Brunnstrom the puck in traffic as he was trying to break in the zone, and it exploded off his stick.

Brunnstrom immediately started digging hard to get back in the zone. Clowe carried the puck into the zone and Grossman took him. Roenick broke for the net and Brunnstrom went with him. At that moment, Roenick was obviously the most dangerous player. Then, Niskanen collapsed on the net and also took Roenick. At that time, the Stars were covering everyone.

Wilson on the other hand was just drifting into the zone. He took a half-hearted “Modano swing” at Clowe, who was already covered by Grossman, as he sent the puck across the ice to Pihal who was breaking down the wall, where Wilson should have been, and Pihal scored all alone from the circle.

The other few times Brunnstrom was on the ice. He was very active in the offensive zone and doing his best to score after everyone else had given up, well everyone except Neal and Eriksson. I’d rather have a guy that everyone claims is inept in the defensive zone but willing to fight than a bunch of players who rollover and die. Besides, Brunnstrom has played pretty well in the defensive zone. Most of his mistakes have come on a fast breaking play, like the one tonight, but I think he played that situation well this evening.

My gripe is that Wilson and Barch are just as bad in the defensive zone and can’t hold a candle to his skill in the offensive zone. Those guys playing more minutes is absurd.

[piqued]

I know at least my first reaction on that play was to curse at Wilson. Granted, I do that for every play, but I'm pretty sure he did something wrong there.

[BigG44]

Originally Posted by piqued1457

I know at least my first reaction on that play was to curse at Wilson. Granted, I do that for every play, but I'm pretty sure he did something wrong there.

Razor just blamed Brunnstrom because of his history.

Razor said (and I'm doing it from memory so sue me), "Someone left Pihal wide open and Brunnstrom has struggled with that and Wilson was somewhere."

Had Brunnstrom not gone with Roenick, he's alone in front of Turco. Maybe Niskanen shouldn't have joined Brunnstrom and Roenick at the net. Niskanen was on the same side of the ice as Pihal, and he could have stepped up and challenged him. Maybe Brunnstrom should then abandon Roenick when Niskanen steps in. I don't know for sure how the Stars are supposed to play that, but I do not Brunnstrom gets flamed if Roenick walks to the net alone.

[Kritter471]

Biggie - Didn't see the play. I was just commenting that saying he turned it over at the offensive blue line, so it wasn't as bad a turnover isn't necessarily a good rationale. The offensive blue line is generally a pretty bad place to turn it over.

Also, your breakdown makes it seem Brunnstrom is double-covering Roenick and taking him way too far into the zone, but that's nitpicking, especially considering I didn't see it and it could just be confusion in my interpretation.

My guess is it all has to do with standards. Barch and Wilson are pluggers, and not really very good ones. Mistakes are expected, so they're not punished for them. They're just not talented enough to avoid those mistakes.

Brunnstrom, on the other hand, is someone the Stars have high hopes for, and they therefore hold him to a higher standard of play in all areas. He gets yanked for a mistake (especially something they consider a mental or lazy one) because the Stars expect more of him, and while that may lead to him sitting more than the group of AHLers currently pretending to be competent hockey players, I kind of get it.

[Kritter471]

Originally Posted by BigG44

Razor just blamed Brunnstrom because of his history.

Razor said (and I'm doing it from memory so sue me), "Someone left Pihal wide open and Brunnstrom has struggled with that and Wilson was somewhere."

Had Brunnstrom not gone with Roenick, he's alone in front of Turco. Maybe Niskanen shouldn't have joined Brunnstrom and Roenick at the net. Niskanen was on the same side of the ice as Pihal, and he could have stepped up and challenged him. Maybe Brunnstrom should then abandon Roenick when Niskanen steps in. I don't know for sure how the Stars are supposed to play that, but I do not Brunnstrom gets flamed if Roenick walks to the net alone.

Ignore the graf about Brunnstrom going in too deep in my last post. This makes it clearer

It sounds like a combination of poor handing off by both Brunnstrom and Niskanen. Niskanen has to communicate that he has the guy in front of the net (which is his primary responsibility if I'm imagining the play right), and Brunnstrom has to rotate with him to go get the guy Niskanen left. Think of it as switching men off a screen in basketball.

But it also sounds like the turnover is what led to the breakdown. If Brunnstrom is forced to chase a guy back to the net and beats his d-men there, then Niskanen could have been way too eager to get into the zone and ahead of the play, changing and therefore late arriving or caught by the turnover. Only one of those options is his fault.

Wilson doesn't sound like he helped at all either. But I think that goes back to standards. No one expects Wilson to be any good, because he's AHL bound as soon as the Stars appease the injury gods.