EDIT: after watching the replay, the goal seems even more beautiful than at first glance. Spin-o-rama, then betwen his own legs and a finish into Stana's five-hole. WOW.
I didn't think this was worthy of a new thread but has anyone seen NJ Devils property Petr Vrana play? If so, do you think he would ever have a shot of coming back to the NHL or is his game only suited for the KHL?
Season: 43 GP 20 G 25 A 45 Pts +18 12 PIM 12 EVG 7 PPG 1 SHG 116 SOG 17.2 SH% 53.6 FO% 17:57 TOI/G
Vrana ranks 5th in goals, 6th in points, 12th in assists, and 9th in +/-. He's still young at age 26.
What do you think of G Nikita Bespalov (born 87)? He started season in VHL, after injury of Koval in january, he was call-up as back up. He played last 5 games of Torpedo in KHL. Stats are 94.0%, 2.00 goals per match.
ok i can say it this way if you dont like it, Riga has no chance against those 3 teams.
Torpedo maybe but i doubt it.
I think we'll always have a chance against Minsk, disregarding where they are in the standings. And really Minsk started the season well but now it doesn't seem like it's a really top class team (2:5 vs Spartak)....
Then again, I don't expect us to play against Minsk. As I said, it seems like fuel in the tank is running out.
It's a good thing that, if we stay 7, we won't have to play Dynamo Moscow, SKA as against these two clubs I really don't see much chance. But be it Severstal, Torpedo or Minsk, they're beatable (though, probably it'll be Torpedo, which is worse for us than Severstal or Minsk). Our problem is not really the defense or forwards, with Hossa arriving we've been solid in attack and it's not like we score only 2 goals for game and rely on 1 line like previously (well, now we rely on 2 lines ), the defense is nothing that good but it's decent against teams like Minsk or Torpedo. The biggest problem is the fact that we don't have a goalie right now. Holt is sometimes good but still he's the main reason why we lost in Moscow and lost a point vs Torpedo at home. He's not a goalie you could be confident with going into play-offs... and Jučers is nr.2 that makes it even more terrrible.
I still think we can go past the first round (if we stay 7) but later on... we're finished. Just as it was last two years. I don't think SKA will collapse in the first round, they have Riha, even if Ezhov isn't able to cope with pressure, they have Stepanek... and behind his back experienced Sokolov and they have the best attack in the league... Later on, against teams with better defense, they might lose.
But, of course, play-offs are full of surprises and only afterwards you can see why this thing or other thing did or didn't happened. Some players step up, some collapse under pressure, some teams are ready to give their 110%, others (like SKA two years ago when they weren't less impressive than this year in the regular season) don't. Even the best goalie can break under pressure. Had, say, Yugra played with Masalskis the whole first round last year, not with Biryukov who's great but not a play-of goalie, they would've probably won the first round.
Last edited by Latgale_fan: 02-03-2012 at 05:51 AM.
), the defense is nothing that good but it's decent against teams like Minsk or Torpedo. The biggest problem is the fact that we don't have a goalie right now. Holt is sometimes good but still he's the main reason why we lost in Moscow and lost a point vs Torpedo at home. He's not a goalie you could be confident with going into play-offs... and Jučers is nr.2 that makes it even more terrrible.
