This was a bad, ugly loss. The Stars have a lot of work to do on protecting a lead. I don’t know if the solution is to go simple (which really does mean play conservatively, I don’t care what the coach says), but they need to play smarter and not take so many risks. Make sure that they get the puck out of their zone and into the offensive zone. No turnovers, especially in the neutral zone.
Rookie center Max Sasson scored a goal for the Canucks tonight. I will now lose sleep thinking about how badly Max's parents failed him by not giving him a first name that starts with the letter A.
IMHO - Demko is one of the most under rated goalies in the league. He's had injury issues for a few years but if he stays healthy, the Nucks will be dangerous. Time to move off the idea of Steel on the "top" line. Blackwell, oy vay! Moose is a freaking stud, hard stop. Team defense, still a horror show carried over from last year. Mark this - I think Seguin in for a big year!!!
Fast teams can cause bad decisions and exacerbate them. Vancouver is one of those teams that the Stars might lose the first game of a series (just like last night), but then Dallas would adjust and, with superior goaltending, win the series.
- Get Steel off that top line please. He's not bad he's just not pushing the play at the pace Hintz and Rantanen need. One thing I was wondering about is whether the Stars would be interested in Brennan Othmann from the Rangers. Hasn't been able to secure a spot in their lineup, would probably only cost a 3rd or 4th, and has a great shot which he might be able to use more with Rantanen and Hintz making space for him.
- Thought Robo had another great game tonight. Hope some of his shots can start going in because I feel like he's on the verge of really breaking out this season. Weird to say for a guy on a 123-point pace but I feel like he's been a bit snakebit despite his opportunities. I also think Bourque had a great game tonight which is nice to see. I was worried he'd get lost in the shuffle with Duchene out but he just produces offensive opportunities every time he's on the ice it seems. That late-game feed to Hintz that missed the net was a crazy play on the forecheck. Came in, didn't even engage the body just used his stick to knock it free and in one motion centered it perfectly. He's been snakebit too but really looks like he's going to be a consistent offensive threat this year.
- Rough game from Nils and Bichsel tonight. Tbh I didn't notice Nils having as bad of a game until I realized he wasn't on the ice at all in the 3rd. I guess he made the over-aggressive play on goal 2 and was on the ice for goal 3. He's a little too passive in the D-zone still, and while he's been playing well on offense I get Gulutzan wanting to instill a little more patience in him. I wonder if he sits for Lyubushkin next game. I thought Bichsel had his 2nd straight rough game last night. He uses his body well defensively, but I feel like he's just taking one too many stickhandles when he has the puck, and often misses his outlet passes. Maybe part of this was getting over-exposed when the bench was shortened in the 3rd, but it's pretty clear he has some work to do to think the game at an NHL level with the puck on his stick.
- Concerning that the team falls asleep for large stretches of each game, and tonight it actually bit them. I see what Gulutzan was saying about getting over aggressive and trying to pile on goals on the powerplay - that's also what happened on the Barron SHG against Winnipeg - but there's no reason that should tilt the ice so heavily in other teams' favor. I do think the line juggling is partially to blame here. Hockey is a game of reads and routes made in tight space and with no time. While every team and coach pretends line consistency doesn't matter and "everyone can play with anyone", the reality is that your reads build throughout the game and season. You get used to where your linemates are going and when, and you get used to how your opponents are reading and taking up ice. Throughout the game you adjust based on those factors, and learn to put pucks into the right areas, make cuts at the right time, or change your routes for deception based on that. If you get used to your linemates for 30 minutes and then all of a sudden they're not your linemates, you have to then adjust to different guys making different reads and taking different routes, and your'e going to be less efficient with the puck. I'd like to see a little more patience from Gulutzan on the line blender when things start going South, and I think he should just put his best lines out there from the jump rather than loading things up later.
Not sure I agree about DeSmith. I agree he had some huge saves but I felt like he wasn't seeing the puck well and giving up second and third chances because of it. This game definitely isn't all on him but I think him swimming in his crease caused the team to play differently around him too.
I tend to give goalies a bit of a break on bad defensive breakdowns, so I could be overly generous on this one. Either way, probably fair to say that goaltending wasn’t really the big story in this one (aside from a couple of those huge stops by Demko).
Did Lundqvist get benched or was he injured?
I’ll ask at practice Friday morning, as this didn’t get asked tonight (which I ought to have done).
The Moose is so fun, his goal was a snipe and so many of his passes are just outrageous
This was a bad, ugly loss. The Stars have a lot of work to do on protecting a lead. I don’t know if the solution is to go simple (which really does mean play conservatively, I don’t care what the coach says), but they need to play smarter and not take so many risks. Make sure that they get the puck out of their zone and into the offensive zone. No turnovers, especially in the neutral zone.
I need to know how much longer the Steel-Hintz-Rantanen line is going to exist for, it just does not work
1 Random Ramble:
Rookie center Max Sasson scored a goal for the Canucks tonight. I will now lose sleep thinking about how badly Max's parents failed him by not giving him a first name that starts with the letter A.
I said this to someone right after the goal. Was it you?
Alas, it was not.
IMHO - Demko is one of the most under rated goalies in the league. He's had injury issues for a few years but if he stays healthy, the Nucks will be dangerous. Time to move off the idea of Steel on the "top" line. Blackwell, oy vay! Moose is a freaking stud, hard stop. Team defense, still a horror show carried over from last year. Mark this - I think Seguin in for a big year!!!
Fast teams can cause bad decisions and exacerbate them. Vancouver is one of those teams that the Stars might lose the first game of a series (just like last night), but then Dallas would adjust and, with superior goaltending, win the series.
- Get Steel off that top line please. He's not bad he's just not pushing the play at the pace Hintz and Rantanen need. One thing I was wondering about is whether the Stars would be interested in Brennan Othmann from the Rangers. Hasn't been able to secure a spot in their lineup, would probably only cost a 3rd or 4th, and has a great shot which he might be able to use more with Rantanen and Hintz making space for him.
- Thought Robo had another great game tonight. Hope some of his shots can start going in because I feel like he's on the verge of really breaking out this season. Weird to say for a guy on a 123-point pace but I feel like he's been a bit snakebit despite his opportunities. I also think Bourque had a great game tonight which is nice to see. I was worried he'd get lost in the shuffle with Duchene out but he just produces offensive opportunities every time he's on the ice it seems. That late-game feed to Hintz that missed the net was a crazy play on the forecheck. Came in, didn't even engage the body just used his stick to knock it free and in one motion centered it perfectly. He's been snakebit too but really looks like he's going to be a consistent offensive threat this year.
- Rough game from Nils and Bichsel tonight. Tbh I didn't notice Nils having as bad of a game until I realized he wasn't on the ice at all in the 3rd. I guess he made the over-aggressive play on goal 2 and was on the ice for goal 3. He's a little too passive in the D-zone still, and while he's been playing well on offense I get Gulutzan wanting to instill a little more patience in him. I wonder if he sits for Lyubushkin next game. I thought Bichsel had his 2nd straight rough game last night. He uses his body well defensively, but I feel like he's just taking one too many stickhandles when he has the puck, and often misses his outlet passes. Maybe part of this was getting over-exposed when the bench was shortened in the 3rd, but it's pretty clear he has some work to do to think the game at an NHL level with the puck on his stick.
- Concerning that the team falls asleep for large stretches of each game, and tonight it actually bit them. I see what Gulutzan was saying about getting over aggressive and trying to pile on goals on the powerplay - that's also what happened on the Barron SHG against Winnipeg - but there's no reason that should tilt the ice so heavily in other teams' favor. I do think the line juggling is partially to blame here. Hockey is a game of reads and routes made in tight space and with no time. While every team and coach pretends line consistency doesn't matter and "everyone can play with anyone", the reality is that your reads build throughout the game and season. You get used to where your linemates are going and when, and you get used to how your opponents are reading and taking up ice. Throughout the game you adjust based on those factors, and learn to put pucks into the right areas, make cuts at the right time, or change your routes for deception based on that. If you get used to your linemates for 30 minutes and then all of a sudden they're not your linemates, you have to then adjust to different guys making different reads and taking different routes, and your'e going to be less efficient with the puck. I'd like to see a little more patience from Gulutzan on the line blender when things start going South, and I think he should just put his best lines out there from the jump rather than loading things up later.
Not sure I agree about DeSmith. I agree he had some huge saves but I felt like he wasn't seeing the puck well and giving up second and third chances because of it. This game definitely isn't all on him but I think him swimming in his crease caused the team to play differently around him too.
I tend to give goalies a bit of a break on bad defensive breakdowns, so I could be overly generous on this one. Either way, probably fair to say that goaltending wasn’t really the big story in this one (aside from a couple of those huge stops by Demko).