[PGT] Nucks @ kangz

[Strawbone]

26 minutes ago, Barnstorm said:

All we need is one solid game to turn this around. Winning records start with one win. It’s not the first time this team has hit a skid and it won’t be the last. They’ll turn this around in perfect timing to compete well in the playoffs.

 

Demko and Lindholm’s injuries may be a blessing in disguise. We will have the most rested #1 goaltender and a fresh highly skilled 200 ft center. 
 

 

These are the positive vibes the team needs right now!

[RU SERIOUS]

12 hours ago, Canuckfanforlife82 said:

I don’t like how the coach doesn’t want to acknowledge how the team is slumping the past 20 games. It doesn’t feel like anyone is being held accountable again. 

but, but, but......."it's all a learning experience".................

[Rip The Mesh]

This team has to have a healthy Demko to make any splash at all in the playoffs. Since he's been out, the players have gradually altered their play to compensate,

and it's even affected the lines Tocchet has been coming up with. Personally, I don't think that works worth a Damn. 

Last night, if I were the coach, I would have gone with the 649 line just to equalize LA's offence. Yah, they had last change, but it could still be done if you're smart.

To me;  the only players that were going last night were Hughes, who was on way too much, and Boeser wasn't bad. 

Again though; Rick has to find a way to ramp these guys up.

 

 

[spook007]

10 hours ago, Hairy Kneel said:

Boston learned that the hard way last year after winning the pres trophy then getting clunked out of the playoffs. 

Petie's struggling. We're over playing Huggy. Our 4th line is soft as butter. We need some push back. 

Our power play has sucked pretty badly. Juulsen is in the press box when AHLer's are in the line up.

Tocchet is usually very strong in leadership but not so much lately. 

PA has generally been very good but I question the EP contract and not finding a tenacious forechecker at the trade deadline. 

Everybody is learning this year. 

We got to hope we get lucky in the 1st round. 

And can't really say about refereeing, it's a pandora's box with that US bump. So who the fk knows about that. Like Barreta would say.

I agree on everything, but think the contract is fair (provided he finds his mojo again). Yesterday was a step up from the last few weeks so there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Lets hope so...

Edited April 7 by spook007

[RU SERIOUS]

Isn't it ironic that for the last several seasons the Canucks slump all season and suddenly go on a late season "tear" winning games and knocking us further down the draft pole, while this year we were at the top all year and slump at the end, losing the top league, conference and likely the division top spot and home ice advantage.

 

So Canuck!

[RU SERIOUS]

2 hours ago, Gurn said:

I should have invested more in  hopium/copium stocks; I see a whole lot of it being used here.

 

"It will be better when Demko gets back"    

"It will get better when Lindholm is back"

 

are both statements assuming those guys are coming back. 

Personally I find trusting Canuck medical info to be a very dubious thing to do.

 

It has been months since this team was playing it's best hockey.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...actualy  two months!

[Dumb Nuck]

17 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

We’ll also see what kind of team we have when the games really matter.

 

I know fans view these last games as “must wins” and “huge games” but the only real must wins and huge games will be in the playoffs now. It’s a whole new season and previous records don’t matter.

 

The game against the Oilers better be epic, as close to a playoff game as you can get, if they can’t get up for that I will be officially concerned.

[RU SERIOUS]

2 hours ago, tas said:

I'm still trying to figure out why and all I can come up with is all of the best players must be injured to some extent.

 

miller hasn't been the same since that shot block that he went down the tunnel for, hughes looks tired and frustrated and is likely banged up, pettersson obviously hasn't looked right for 3 months. 

 

Q:  I'm not sure how you solve that problem ................?

A: ....................

Edited April 7 by RU SERIOUS

[-dlc-]

7 minutes ago, RU SERIOUS said:

Isn't it ironic that for the last several seasons the Canucks slump all season and suddenly go on a late season "tear" winning games and knocking us further down the draft pole, while this year we were at the top all year and slump at the end, losing the top league, conference and likely the division top spot and home ice advantage.

 

So Canuck!

Thing is, it's quite normal for teams to really make a push if they're fighting for a spot. 

[Dr. Crossbar]

12 minutes ago, Rip The Mesh said:

This team has to have a healthy Demko to make any splash at all in the playoffs. Since he's been out, the players have gradually altered their play to compensate,

and it's even affected the lines Tocchet has been coming up with. Personally, I don't think that works worth a Damn. 

Last night, if I were the coach, I would have gone with the 649 line just to equalize LA's offence. Yah, they had last change, but it could still be done if you're smart.

To me;  the only players that were going last night were Hughes, who was on way too much, and Boeser wasn't bad. 

Again though; Rick has to find a way to ramp these guys up.

 

 

 

We know healthy Demko makes a huge key difference. The team will play differently in front of him. All one needs to do is look at the difference between unhealthy Demko and the season we had last year (and people said that was really the team we were) and healthy Demko and the season we've had this year.

 

He'll not only be rested and recovered, he'll also be a much needed  psychological component for the team in knowing he's back between the pipes. As we've seen in the past, it will likely be a motivating factor.

 

 

Edited April 7 by Dr. Crossbar

[bishopshodan]

we're winning the cup.

 

this. year. 

[Dr. Crossbar]

Just now, -dlc- said:

Thing is, it's quite normal for teams to really make a push if they're fighting for a spot. 

 

It's very normal. 

[bishopshodan]

4 minutes ago, Dumb Nuck said:

 

The game against the Oilers better be epic, as close to a playoff game as you can get, if they can’t get up for that I will be officially concerned.

I'd rather play it cagey.

Dont expose too much, keep any playoff systems/strategies to ourselves and dont get injured. 

[DeNiro]

13 minutes ago, RU SERIOUS said:

Isn't it ironic that for the last several seasons the Canucks slump all season and suddenly go on a late season "tear" winning games and knocking us further down the draft pole, while this year we were at the top all year and slump at the end, losing the top league, conference and likely the division top spot and home ice advantage.

 

So Canuck!

How would we lose home ice advantage?

 

The Kings are 9 points behind us.

 

Unless you mean for the next rounds but that is not guaranteed. Edmonton could get upset by Vegas if they take the division.

 

Lets just take it one round at a time though. 

 

Edited April 7 by DeNiro

[Dr. Crossbar]

26 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

We’ll also see what kind of team we have when the games really matter.

 

I know fans view these last games as “must wins” and “huge games” but the only real must wins and huge games will be in the playoffs now. It’s a whole new season and previous records don’t matter.

 

Also, the stakes will be much higher and everything will be on the line. That often brings out the best in people, unexpectedly in some, and how greatness emerges. 

 

It's different when everything is on the line.

[Dumb Nuck]

3 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

I'd rather play it cagey.

Dont expose too much, keep any playoff systems/strategies to ourselves and dont get injured. 

same could be said for the oilers, no excuses not to show up.

[RU SERIOUS]

3 minutes ago, -dlc- said:

Thing is, it's quite normal for teams to really make a push if they're fighting for a spot. 

Yes - for sure, but as a Canucks fan it's just so frustrating to see the end of every season turn upside down.   It's almost like we're cursed at times.

 

Hopefully they can turn this all around in the next two weeks because after all the good they've done this season - it will all be for NOT - if things continue like this into the playoffs because I honestly don't think we'll be able to get past anyone playing like this.     Obviously if Demko makes it back we'll have a much, much better chance but the team itself looks pretty "flat" right now and is very concerning and so sad to see.

[Hairy Kneel]

1 hour ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Whatever the reason it's spread throughout the lineup.

Even Podz who was doing great in the AHL, has no goals in 15 games.

The bottom six and any defenceman not named Hughes has to step up their game.

Even Soucy last night looked terrible. And normally the guy is a rock on defence.

 

The worst case, the team is learning what it takes to be a winner. How long the slog is during the season. And should hopefully learn to get faster, and get more endurance.

And get mentally stronger.

I think we're now in a similar space where coaches have achieved success at preaching the 200 foot defensive structure. At the expense of losing some offensive creativity. 

Deja vu all over again

[bishopshodan]

Just now, Dumb Nuck said:

same could be said for the oilers, no excuses not to show up.

Did not say dont show up. Dont care what the Oil do.

 

But, show up the way we want to, be smart, work on the things we want to. However, do. not. get. injuries. 

 

Only thing that matters is the dance. Hoping for a playoff style game against a team we might see during our run is pointless at this time of year. 

 

[-dlc-]

6 minutes ago, RU SERIOUS said:

Yes - for sure, but as a Canucks fan it's just so frustrating to see the end of every season turn upside down.   It's almost like we're cursed at times.

 

Hopefully they can turn this all around in the next two weeks because after all the good they've done this season - it will all be for NOT - if things continue like this into the playoffs because I honestly don't think we'll be able to get past anyone playing like this.     Obviously if Demko makes it back we'll have a much, much better chance but the team itself looks pretty "flat" right now and is very concerning and so sad to see.

"If things continue like this"

 

The bar's been set SO high because of what the team has done to date but, again, it's quite normal to have drop offs every now and then. NO team has just killed it all year.

 

People projecting that we "won't get past anyone" are thinking this is the status quo. There's no reason to think the team won't give it a good go...if we look at a bigger sample size than the recent past and just cherry picking things. We're in a bit of a funk, yes. Will it last forever? Probably not.

 

This team has shown the ability to win, even consistently...so not sure why we should just count on them losing.

[steviewonder20]

3 hours ago, CanucksJay said:

Luckily we don't seem to have trouble beating Edmonton 

Luckily we didn’t have trouble beating them. That was when they sucked, and before they went on an amazing (16 games?) winning streak. We haven’t dominated anyone since the all star break.

[DeNiro]

Just now, steviewonder20 said:

Luckily we didn’t have trouble beating them. That was when they sucked, and before they went on an amazing (16 games?) winning streak. We haven’t dominated anyone since the all star break.

Winnipeg?

[KFAN]

1 hour ago, -dlc- said:

The thing for me that kind of bugs me is this: when did the self-proclaimed experts who've known all along because they're objective and we're not make their assessments?

 

If they're going back over the last couple of years, this team has changed (quite a bit). So that team or this team?

 

It's a moving target and to somehow pretend they knew the trajectory of "this team" is kind of silly....because they didn't have all the information in place to do so. If they started projecting based on last year, this was our team:

 

 

So no, I don't think they've observed and critically analyzed in order to know what THIS team in the here and now will do. Because this team you can only assess on this year. And it's really tough to know what they'll do based on their season and running hot then cold.

Agreed. If my count is right, there are only 16 out of 42 who are on the active roster, with a few bouncing back and forth between Abby and Vcr. It's a different team, and a much better team. However we do in the playoffs, I believe we're in for some exciting hockey.

[-dlc-]

2 minutes ago, steviewonder20 said:

Luckily we didn’t have trouble beating them. That was when they sucked, and before they went on an amazing (16 games?) winning streak. We haven’t dominated anyone since the all star break.

The Oilers are all over the map at times.

5-0 loss recently says they haven't quite sealed the deal.

 

Depends which Oilers team shows up (as much as the Canucks).

[PureQuickness]

Reading from the people online, there's a lot of emphasis on goaltending. Am I the only one who doesn't think this is the goalie's fault at all? We've been partly unlucky but also partly self-inflicted due to our anemic powerplay. We shouldn't be THAT bad on the PP.