travel_dude

I don't even think you need to bump down anyone for a full game to play Coronato extra, Sit Hunt or Greer, but not because of their play. Both have already proved themselves to the GM. You get a 4th line of Greer/Hunt-Rooney-Coronato. You give him minutes with Backlund. The other player he replaces goes to the 4th line or sits. He can play with the puck well enough, so he needs to gain confidence without it.

The weird thing is that teams like Buffalo and MTL and Ottawa are starting to gain some wins. There appears to be only 5 teams that will never catch us. I didn't include ARI, even though they are only 1 back of MTL.

It's funny when you go back to the draft preview: Jurmo's projectable 6-foot-4 frame and smooth-skating lend itself to covering large swaths of ice and carrying the puck from one zone to the next sometimes effortlessly. His speed makes him one of the best puck-rushers in the Finnish U20 league. He accelerates well when he's already in motion and is a deceptive skater in the neutral zone with crossovers and changes of pace. 6'4" (or 5), and close to 210 lbs. Smooth skater? Hard to project from Liiga to AHL/NHL. Sometimes it's better to be a D man first and a guy that scores 2nd. We have quite a few guys that can score.

It's over, and I don't just mean tonight. On a positive note, Buffalo jumps up 2 points on us in the standings. Kraken can't seem to win any games now. Still 2 back of us.

Top shutdown line burned by having every player either behind the net or one side. JJ left alone in the slot, no chance for Wolf.

Wolf's mechanics look good. Seems to understand the NHL speed and shot placement. Think he may be a good NHL goalie.

2 minute penalty for Skinner stepping on the puck. Lovely.

Almost for Pospisil.

We get burned on back coverage. We don't defend the rush when we have too many D playing too deep.

Huberdeau shoots, it's a goal.

We seem to have trouble with fast skating teams. Have to go hard to the net to score and stop overpassing it. Holy crap I am tired of passing off when we have a clear look at the net. Pass it to the middle into a bunch of sticks. I think we have to put blinders on Huberdeau and put a bridle on him. When he thinks pass, pull on the reins and yell Woooh.... We don't have 40 goal scorers now, so shoot the dang puck. How many times to we have to see a scramble in fron and nobidy can seem to think goal. Coronato thinks shot every time he sees it. Get him in there and sit one of the 4th line guys. We have an okay 4th line, but they only benefit a team that can score from the other 3. Between the top line and the Backlund line, all the 5v5 goals are scored against them. Or so it seems. Not often do you see Pospisil or Zary out there for a goal against.

Same lines and pairs as yesterday, as far as I can see. Wolf in for Markstrom.

Already down by a goal on the Sabres first shot.

We had to sign him before the summer or lose him, so this was a low risk signing.

For all the suck-it-tude, they are merely one back of us.

At one time I was as close as 240 off the pace. Haven't been closer than 700 in a long time.

Oilers drop 2 in a row. 5 goals on 23 shots against the Leafs 4 goals on 15 shots against the Sens.

The Nucks could lose in the first two rounds and still maintain whatever their rank was at season end. Yes, the division loss would help us somewhat, but it's not going to be 17-24, more like just 24th. Too many playoff teams unlikely to get 100 points. And yes, there are some permutations that get us closer to 20th, but that's a lot of hope. I'm not too concerned about the 3rd coming from VAN because they need to win too many games to get there. The difference between a late 3rd (VAN) and a earlier 4th (NJ) is not a ton.

Hadn't heard anything more about this, but I looked and he has singed a one year deal worth $870k including a signing bonus.

I don't really care about the loss. No reason to beat teams that far ahead of you in the standings. If you can't beat STL or NAS, then not a lot of reason.

Spare me the Sweet Caroline. It ain't your song. Stick with U2, which for some reason you belive is yours as well.

If we could complete a pass, we might actually be able to score.

A loss tonight basically elimates us.

Holy Snikey, how did we miss the open net. Impressive moves by Kyl.

The Nucks are letting us stay in this game. Markstrom has made some saves, but he's the not the reason why the game is 2-1.