[PGT] Nashville at Vancouver - Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 - Game 2

[NHL97OneTimer]

2 minutes ago, Rush said:

 

5. It's time to bring in Podkolzin. You can't tell me PDG can have more impact then podz. Because you would be wrong. 

 

6. The top six has been to diluted of actual top 6 wingers. It's time to concentrate a top six. We had the leagues best 3rd line prior to Dakota's injury.. it's capable of being great. Put Lindholm as a center piece for line 2 with 2 of mikeyev, hogz and/or podz.

 

 

 

Agree with Podz.  I can't see a long run this year, so give the guy some experience and see if the energy and physical play wakes up a side of his game that we need.  The two players are similar at the moment so put the guy in who you think will have the higher ceiling later.

 

Agree with the top 6 being diluted, but Mik does nothing for EP.  If Podz doesn't come back in, this lineup please:

 

Dakota Joshua — J.T. Miller — Conor  Garland

Nils Hoglander — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Ilya Mikheyev — Elias Lindholm — Pius Suter

Phillip Di Giuseppe — Teddy Blueger — Sam Lafferty

[Captain Kirk]

2 minutes ago, Rip The Mesh said:

Full Length...

 

Got a lot of rubber around the net............NOT ON THE NET TOCCHET!

[Rip The Mesh]

2 minutes ago, NHL97OneTimer said:

Agree with Podz.  I can't see a long run this year, so give the guy some experience and see if the energy and physical play wakes up a side of his game that we need.  The two players are similar at the moment so put the guy in who you think will have the higher ceiling later.

 

Agree with the top 6 being diluted, but Mik does nothing for EP.  If Podz doesn't come back in, this lineup please:

 

Dakota Joshua — J.T. Miller — Conor  Garland

Nils Hoglander — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Ilya Mikheyev — Elias Lindholm — Pius Suter

Phillip Di Giuseppe — Teddy Blueger — Sam Lafferty

I like that: Well thought out.

[Dr. Crossbar]

5 minutes ago, CanuckDownUnder said:

 

Groin makes some sense.

 

Well, in the end, tonight was ...

 

[Rush]

2 minutes ago, NHL97OneTimer said:

Agree with Podz.  I can't see a long run this year, so give the guy some experience and see if the energy and physical play wakes up a side of his game that we need.  The two players are similar at the moment so put the guy in who you think will have the higher ceiling later.

 

Agree with the top 6 being diluted, but Mik does nothing for EP.  If Podz doesn't come back in, this lineup please:

 

Dakota Joshua — J.T. Miller — Conor  Garland

Nils Hoglander — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Ilya Mikheyev — Elias Lindholm — Pius Suter

Phillip Di Giuseppe — Teddy Blueger — Sam Lafferty

Yeah.. I hate to use the NHL video game reference. but Hogs and Petey are very similar players. Hog plays with a bite but vs playoff competition his bite is far more tame in comparison. MIckles looks like a shell of his former self. I'd put him with Laffery and see what they can create with some speed. I like those line combos but I bet tocc goes with lotto line which im all for. I'd even be happy if they put petey with garland and joshua and flip mickles with new linemates. They will add podz i hope I think his youthful energy will add a surge to the club. They probably kept him out strategically for that. It also let him see nhl playoff action before jumping in.

[J-23]

I went to the game, free tickets.

 

Suter missed two empty nets.

Joshua missed an empty net.

Pettersson missed an empty net.

 

Need to get more shots on net, I don’t know why Hronek and Pettersson refuse to shoot the puck though. Can’t just always pass it to Hughes.

 

Nashville wasn’t even that good tonight. They just scored on the limited chances they had.

Edited April 24 by J-23

[AnotherCanucksFan]

5 minutes ago, NHL97OneTimer said:

Agree with Podz.  I can't see a long run this year, so give the guy some experience and see if the energy and physical play wakes up a side of his game that we need.  The two players are similar at the moment so put the guy in who you think will have the higher ceiling later.

 

Agree with the top 6 being diluted, but Mik does nothing for EP.  If Podz doesn't come back in, this lineup please:

 

Dakota Joshua — J.T. Miller — Conor  Garland

Nils Hoglander — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Ilya Mikheyev — Elias Lindholm — Pius Suter

Phillip Di Giuseppe — Teddy Blueger — Sam Lafferty

I don't understand why you'd break up Miller Boeser and not keep the Joshua Garland Blueger together? It just seems like people / coaches are trying to change the lineup too much and get away from lines that worked during the regular season. We don't have time for players to get familiar with each other in a playoff series.

[NHL97OneTimer]

2 minutes ago, Rip The Mesh said:

I like that: Well thought out.

Thanks.  That would be a top line I'd get excited about.  Not the lotto line, it would be the money line.

 

The second line should work if EP can hold onto the puck and dangle more but it could also be the frustration line.

 

The third line could be an effective shutdown line.

 

The fourth line could hold things together but would essentially be the leftover line.  No offence to Blueger....he could easily be on the third line.

 

Dakota Joshua — J.T. Miller — Conor  Garland

Nils Hoglander — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Ilya Mikheyev — Elias Lindholm — Pius Suter

Phillip Di Giuseppe — Teddy Blueger — Sam Lafferty

[CanuckDownUnder]

7 minutes ago, Captain Kirk said:

It would help if Pettersson actually had a shot on net as well?

 

He hit the side, does that count? But, yeah, shot and a rebound depends on hitting the damn target!

[Jaimito]

win the next game. Gotta learn how to battle through these types of game .

 

 

[NHL97OneTimer]

1 minute ago, J-23 said:

I went to the game, free tickets.

 

Suter missed two empty nets.

Joshua missed an empty net.

Pettersson missed an empty net.

 

Need to get more shots on net, I don’t know why Hronek and Pettersson refuse to shoot the puck though. Can’t just always pass it to Hughes.

Got free tickets......you won regardless.  Well played

[AnotherCanucksFan]

1 minute ago, J-23 said:

I went to the game, free tickets.

 

Suter missed two empty nets.

Joshua missed an empty net.

Pettersson missed an empty net.

 

Need to get more shots on net, I don’t know why Hronek and Pettersson refuse to shoot the puck though. Can’t just always pass it to Hughes.

II think the team overall was thinking too much this game. There wasn't any flow to passes or plays in this game. 

[JamesB]

A lot of things went wrong today, starting with news of the Demko injury. Then Myers was a late scratch, apparently due to the flu, and a lot of things went wrong in-game. But there is some good news, including the fact that the Canucks actually dominated the flow of play, especially in the third period. Here are my comments.

 

1. Losing Demko was the big news. And things started badly for DeSmith, with Nashville scoring on their first shot about one minute in. The play started with Hughes going for an easy puck retrieval but he fell down and ultimately Forsberg floated a puck at the net from the blueline that was deflected by Beauviller and slowly dribbled in. DeSmith did not look good on the play. It was a high deflection that was moving slowly that goalies normally stop. But it looked like DeSmith was overplaying to his left. We missed Demmer's calmness and positioning on that goal.

 

2 Might as well finish my comments on DeSmith here.  On the second Predator goal. Forsberg beat DeSmith on the short side after Juulsen lost a puck battle in the corner.  On the third goal Petey gave the puck away and (later) failed to check the shooter. But part of the problem was poor rebound control by DeSmith. Overall, DeSmith gave up 3 goals on 15 shots for an .800 save percentage. That is an ugly number. But he did make some good saves and Nashville had some good chances. The expected goal against for DeSmith were 2.39. So allowing 3 is sub-par but not terrible. And, as the Canucks were able to only score one goal, DeSmith's play did not make a lot of difference.

 

3. Canucks Dominated the Flow of play.  I believe the Canucks had more than twice as much O-zone time as Nashville. The Corsi differential was 84-36 and the scoring chances were 39-20. In the 3rd period the higher danger chances were 10-1 for the Canucks. But Nashville had 30 blocked shots (compared to 8 for the Canucks). That is a huge number. The Canucks also had a lot of off-target shots and quite a few misses on great chances. Not to mention a post and other situations where the puck almost went in.  And Saros made some big saves. With underlying stats like this the Canucks would probably win 80% of the time, but they could not get a bounce tonight.

 

4. The forward lines. Both versions of the Miller line (with Boeser and Suter or with Boeser and Petey) were great. Miller, Boeser and Suter all probably should have had goals tonight. The Lindholm line was good, taking the toughest defensive minutes again and winning the Corsi battle 17-4. The Blueger line was good and was on the ice for the only Canuck goal. But Petey's line was bad, even worse than in the first game. Mik and Hoggy all but disappeared offensively. Petey had 0 shots on goal and was an ugly -3. They were by far the worst line in the underlying stats.

 

5. More on Petey.  There has been a lot of talk about Petey maybe not being 100%. I kind of hope that is true because if we are seeing Petey at 100% his new contract is looking pretty bad.

 

6. The D.  Losing Myers hurt. Juulsen was ok but he only played 11 minutes and he was partly at fault on the second goal. Hughes had a couple of miscues tonight but it is amazing how the ice tilts when he is on the ice. The Corsi differential was 34-6 with him on the ice. Hughes and Miller were the two best Canucks tonight.  Zadorov scored the only goal, had some big hits, and has good underlying numbers. He had an excellent game.

 

7. Where to from here.  With Demmer probably out for the series due a knee injury (same knee but apparently a "different injury") it is hard to be optimistic. I guess the Canucks have to go with DeSmith again. I am not saying he was bad tonight, but he was mediocre at best. I would be tempted to try Silovs in game 4 if DeSmith is subpar in game 3.  And the Canucks are due to get some bounces.

Edited April 24 by JamesB

[NHL97OneTimer]

3 minutes ago, AnotherCanucksFan said:

I don't understand why you'd break up Miller Boeser and not keep the Joshua Garland Blueger together? It just seems like people / coaches are trying to change the lineup too much and get away from lines that worked during the regular season. We don't have time for players to get familiar with each other in a playoff series.

Don't disagree with that but you have to move Suter off Miller's line.  Miller is such a good setup guy but you need someone who can finish there.  Joshua is the guy.

 

Keeping Joshua and Garland together is basically keeping to what you're saying but switching Blueger with Miller.  

 

Miller is more consistent game to game than Boeser.  Joshua and Garland are also fairly consistent.

[CanuckDownUnder]

3 minutes ago, JamesB said:

A lot of things went wrong today, starting with news of the Demko injury. Then Myers was a late scratch, apparently also due to injury, and a lot of things went wrong in-game. But there is some good news, including the fact that the Canucks actually dominated the flow of play, especially in the third period. Here are my comments.

 

1. Losing Demko was the big news. And things started badly for DeSmith, with Nashville scoring on their first shot about one minute in. The play started with Hughes going for an easy puck retrieval but he fell down and ultimately Forsberg floated a puck at the net from the blueline that was deflected by Beauviller and slowly dribbled in. DeSmith did not look good on the play. It was a high deflection that was moving slowly that goalies normally stop. But it looked like DeSmith was overplaying to his left. We missed Demmer's calmness and positioning on that goal.

 

2 Might as well finish my comments on DeSmith here.  On the second Predator goal. Forsberg beat DeSmith on the short side after Juulsen lost a puck battle in the corner. That is a play where the goalie has to cover the short side and let the D worry about keeping the puck away from the other half of the net. Once again we missed Demmer on that play who is taller than DeSmith and is harder to beat high.  On the third goal Petey gave the puck away and (later) failed to check the shooter. But part of the problem was poor rebound control by DeSmith and of course he could not make the save although it was a high danger chance.

 

3. Overall, DeSmith gave up 3 goals on 15 shots for an .800 save percentage. That is an ugly number. But he did make some good saves and Nashville had some good chances. The expected goal against for DeSmith were 2.39. So allowing 3 is poor but not terrible.

 

4. Canucks Dominated the Flow of play.  I believe the Canucks had more than twice as much O-zone time as Nashville. The Corsi differential was 84-36 and the scoring chances were 39-20. In the 3rd period the higher danger chances were 10-1 for the Canucks. But Nashville had 30 blocked shots (compared to 8 for the Canucks). That is a huge number. The Canucks also had a lot of off-target shots and quite a few misses on great chances. Not to mention a post and other situations where the puck almost went in.  And Saros made some big saves.

 

5. With underlying stats like this the Canucks would probably win 80% of the time, but they could not a bounce tonight.

 

6. The forward lines. Both versions of the Miller line (with Boeser and Suter or with Boeser and Petey) were great. Miller, Boeser and Suter all probably should have had goals tonight. The Lindholm line was good, taking the toughest defensive minutes again and winning the Corsi battle 17-4. The Blueger line was good and was on the ice for the only Canuck goal. But Petey's line was bad, even worse than in the first game. Mik and Hoggy all but disappeared offensively. Petey had 0 shots on goal and was an ugly -3. They were by far the worst line in the underlying stats.

 

7. More on Petey.  There has been a lot of talk about Petey maybe not being 100%. I kind of hope that is true because if we are seeing Petey at 100% his new contract is looking pretty bad.

 

8. The D.  Losing Myers hurt. Juulsen was ok but he only played 11 minutes and he was largely at fault on the second goal. Hughes had a couple of miscues tonight but it is amazing how the ice tilts when he is on the ice. The Corsi differential was 34-6 with him on the ice. Hughes and Miller were the two best Canucks tonight.  Zadorov scored the only goal, had some big hits, and has good underlying numbers. He had an excellent game.

 

10. Where to from here.  With Demmer probably out for the series due a knee injury (same knee but apparently a "different injury") it is hard to be optimistic. I guess the Canucks have to go with DeSmith again. I am not saying he was bad tonight, but he was mediocre at best. Tonight the better team lost but the team with the better goalie won. I would be tempted to try Silovs in game 4 if DeSmith is subpar in game 3.  And the Canucks are due to get some bounces.

 

Apparently Myers has the flu. If it spreads through the team, that is really bad news.

[Captain Kirk]

Not even mad or sad just apathetic, so used to this kind of thing over my last 30 years of watching them that it doesn't ever really matter anymore.

[Rush]

Just now, CanuckDownUnder said:

 

Apparently Myers has the flu. If it spreads through the team, that is really bad news.

Same sickness Coach Tocc had prior to the playoffs?? perhaps. wonder who else has had it.

[J-23]

3 minutes ago, AnotherCanucksFan said:

II think the team overall was thinking too much this game. There wasn't any flow to passes or plays in this game. 

After the Zadorov goal everyone was chanting shoot the puck. I think the team just trying to be extra and make the perfect pass was probably a part of thinking too much.

 

Like why are we passing up an open shot from the point for a low percentage sharp angle shot. This happened way too many times tonight, couldn’t believe it.

[AnotherCanucksFan]

1 minute ago, NHL97OneTimer said:

Don't disagree with that but you have to move Suter off Miller's line.  Miller is such a good setup guy but you need someone who can finish there.  Joshua is the guy.

 

Keeping Joshua and Garland together is basically keeping to what you're saying but switching Blueger with Miller.  

 

Miller is more consistent game to game than Boeser.  Joshua and Garland are also fairly consistent.

Unfortunately then what will that do for Boeser? Miller, Boeser, and Pettersson are our main stars during the regular season. If you look at all the other playoff games, their stars have shown up. So far Miller, Boeser, and Pettersson haven't shown up.

[Dr. Crossbar]

8 minutes ago, CanuckDownUnder said:

 

Apparently Myers has the flu. If it spreads through the team, that is really bad news.

 

Giraffe flu. Strikes the neck/throat then the knees. 

[Captain Kirk]

Poor Aquaman, i don't think he'll be able to pay off Petey's extension with only 3 home playoff games this year?

[wai_lai416]

Are we playing the la kings? We can’t even generate shots the first 2 games. We ain’t winning much games if we going to be generating 20 and under shots per game 

[Joshua.Guy]

1 minute ago, wai_lai416 said:

Are we playing the la kings? We can’t even generate shots the first 2 games. We ain’t winning much games if we going to be generating 20 and under shots per game 

Every team in the league would've watched tape of us vs Kings. 

[HOCKEYGOD77]

WHEN THE PREDATORS BLOCK SO MANY SHOTS AND FORM THAT WALL CANUCKS NEED TO SHOOT HIGH HATE TO SEE ANYONE GET HURT BUT THEY NEED TO FIGURE OUT THE WALL THEY CREATE..EITHER CANUCKS TOO SLOW OR CHANGE UP THE PLAN TO PLAN B

[Elias Pettersson]

We got to go all in on the first 2 lines.  Hoglander and Mikheyev are just playing brutal right now.

 

Pettersson     Miller           Boeser

Joshua           Lindholm     Garland

Mikheyev       Suter           Podkolzin

Hoglander     Blueger        Lafferty

 

This is how I would play it next game.  Get the Russians together and bring Podkolzin back in the lineup.  The Italian needs to sit in the press box and eat some pizza.  Hoglander is not playing well, so move him back to the 4th line for now and let him get his game back.