travel_dude

Well to be fair, the other guy is and was the starter. Has played 50 games in seasons. Saying that, it doesn't mean you have to run him 80% of the time. You can run 50/50. A plan is only good if it works.

Our scoring vs goals against is much tighter this year. For every 5-2 win, we have 3-2, 4-3, 2-1 wins and losses. That tightness in games is killing us. Up or down a goal and we lose in regulation or extra time/SO. It's tiresome that a 2 or 3 goal lead is down to the wire most nights. Exciting, but no room for error. My beef with player usage is that we seem content being just good enough to win some nights. Last night was good but we got lucky twice. Duehr was a great goal. 4 points in 3 games. Against 2 outmanned teams. I'm fine with consistency in lines, but some are looking stale some nights.

Even if we are close to last year this time, we went on a big run last year. No, Phillips didn't do much, but he was used very little in those two games. Had a couple of shifts where he was effective, but not built on. It would take coaching to get him over the hump, but Sutter won't spend the time with him. That is fine, he will fit on a smaller speedy team. Lucic is playing about as good as anyone that played with Kadri and Hibey. But really who has had time with those two together? In the O zone, Lucic adds value, up to a point. Get it to Hubey and go to the net. Crunch on the boards and get the puck. In the transition and D-zone, he's a mess. The point is that you don't know what you have until you play the guy. Gaudreau was about 5 games before he showed he was a NHL player. Pelletier is probably going to be the same. Maybe some positive early results. The problem is that Sutter can't see anything other than the size of the player. Does Pelletier fit with Ruzie an Duehr? Why not. Lewis wasn't exactly a difference maker, and we have enough that can kill penalties. Duehr and Ruzie are more effective with speed than just banging around.

I highlighted the one thing that made a huge difference in the results and comments. In the 3 game roadie, Vladar played 100 minutes, letting in 2 goals, one at 5v5 and one in OT. In his two starts, Markstrom gave up 3 goals in 11 shots and was in nets for a 3-1 lead turning into a 4-3 OTL. You can argue that Flames didn't play until they were down 3-1 or stopped playing when up 3-1. Regardless, we can't be giving up soft goals in tight games. Vladar isn't getting enough games considering the results overall between the two goalies.

A STL win would have pushed us out of the WC spot entirely. This puts us up by 4 and 2 up on the Coil.

And Hiberdeau

And Hanifin

We want 5. Demote Stone

I'm fast on skates but can't stop.

We keep this up, there will be vacant spots in the top 6 for Phillips and Pelletier.

Running out of space on the 4th line.

Wholy Satoshi Nakamoto, a cat.

Dube knows when I am getting ready to demote him to the 4th line.

Timely turnover

Point blank chance and it's Lewis there.

Overplaying top pairing. You can see how poor they play after a rough 2nd period. Spread out the minutes or go get a D that can also play 15-17 minutes.

JFC Lucic, can you do something in our zone?

Toffoli held trying to get to the puck, like WTF?

There was a graphic up, where we were like tied for 2nd. Think we closed the gap.

Sloppy play

First thing to guard against with a one goal lead. Dumb penalties. I looking at you Zadorov, Backlund and Kadri. Force the Blues to take one.

Ok, EF, but blown leads mean different things in the playoffs. No 3v3 OT or shootouts.