15 San Jose 4 25 Colorado 3 YES
San Jose is the team I see them to be. Sure they can create and finish with the best teams in the league, but they are soft. And worse, their defense seems to fall apart in key moments. I like Paul Martin, but if he is a top two defenseman, I think you are hurting. Brent Burns is a good player - but still a lesser Byfuglien, at best. Colorado just might be the worst team in the league - not on talent, but maybe. Defensive depth is lacking but still at this point it may be their strength!? Not to be too extreme here - any team in the NHL can beat any team in the NHL on a given night. But the way Colorado is playing, they aren't, on most nights, beating anyone. Honestly, looking at the roster, they have some talent - some is old. Maybe Colorado isn't playing a good system?
San Jose 7/3
12 Tampa Bay 4 26 Carolina 3 --
It looks to me that Carolina had another night of New York Ranger-type play - make a goalie look good by floating a lot of weak shots on net. They generate pressure but can't finish until like the second of the game, anyway. I love Justin Faulk and I think you can watch the time he plays when the Canes pulled the goalie. He worked - looked almost like Drew Doughty out there. Tampa needed some offense - they got it. Tyler Johnson and Stamkos both got on the board. Cam Ward was not at fault for any of those goals - shot placement matters.
Tossup 5/5
8 Winnipeg 1 1 Montreal 5 YES
I will have to watch this game - but for the score, I have to think, Montreal got it right again. (after watching) They did. Winnipeg generated very little from the inside. The defense led straight to rushes up the ice. Neutral zone turn-overs were handled sharply to speed the attack. Well played game for the Canadiens, from the looks of it. Great example of why I say goalies are overrated - when a team generates great scoring chances - no goalie will look good. And on the other end, Condon made a few good saves, but very few rebound shots and very few clean shots from the middle. Does he potentially show that Price is very overrated right now? Think Cam Talbot for the Rangers last season.
Montreal 6/4
28 Buffalo 2 6 New York Islanders 1 NOPE
First, this is my fault for missing the big story - Tavares was still out with an illness. I hope it is nothing more than a minor illness! Second, Reinhart comes through for the Sabres. I think New York played well - they just couldn't create in key moments. Okposo put it all out there - I love seeing that. de Haan looked good out there too - he was everywhere. Grabovski had some wins on his stick but just couldn't finish.
New York Islanders 6/4
3 Nashville 2 29 Anaheim 4 NOPE
Never should I be so confident in a less than GREAT team going against a nothing-to-lose hungry team. Lesson learned. Still not confident that Anaheim is more than a shell of the winner they were last season. They did keep Nashville mostly out of the middle - when they didn't Nashville had some chances - some they missed. Anaheim generated more offense than the shot count shows. Is it me or an illusion - I think Vatanen was more noticeable in this one than in previous games. That is important for Anaheim - he is such a good skater he has to be active and involved for them to win. Nashville had a lot of moments of controlling the puck and game but created nothing significant off of them.
Nashville 9/1
2-2-1 tonight
score: 23/5 = 4.60
No comments:
Post a Comment