travel_dude

Ruzie restores the 3 goal lead.

Marky is leaking the glove side post. Cover that Satoshi Nakamoto.

PK chances for looking great.

Excellent game by Ruzie

Nice pick there LA. No call, just like the Oilers get away with.

Kadri effectively neutered by having to drag Lucic around.

Sorry for the bunch of posts, put them in the wrong thread.

Wow, when they say "Ritchie looking for his 2nd" you know the world has gone insane.

Wow, 5 goals so far.

Marginal call there. I will take it.

I think Lucic is a non starter. The only thing about playing with 2nd line is that it prevents a black hole 4th. 4th was good to start season but had trouble defensively.

He's playing a different role than the Bolts. Overall, he brings it ewvery game. Take the bad with the good (slewwfoot? Really?) On another note, how much do you need to be hooked as a Flame to get a PP?

The GM said he would not discuss and believes the player needs privacy. We all want to know, but there is no info. Personal and family related.

The use of Lucic makes no sense. He went to this 2nd line in the Saturday game. Not like it was good, but it was different. Lewis scored a shortie, so that's not really a sign that him playing with Backlund works. Sure, it was a Backlund pass, but he had a breakaway. Huberdeau with Backlund isn't bad, but the use of a 4th liner there doesn't make sense. We have enough top 6 guys to create 3 decent lines. Ruzicka-Lindholm-Toffoli Huberdeau-Kadri-Mangiapane Coleman-Backlund-Dube Lucic-Lewis-Ritchie or Ruzicka-Lindholm-Toffoli Coleman-Kadri-Dube Huberdeau-Backlund-Mangiapane Lucic-Lewis-Ritchie Really doesn't matter. Neither of those lineups are as bad as the one Sutter is going with.

The point is that some that have a rough start never get back. There is normally about one team per year that recovers. STL was last leading up to the TDL. I don't remember how they were at Thanksgiving the cup year. Why is it so hard? 3 point games. A loss to a division opponent like a 4 point game. Just so hard to get back 10 points against an opponent, not impossible though.

We are rapidly approaching US Thanksgiving, which is traditionally the date that shows the playoff picture. Yes, it's really just a quarter of the way through, but very few recover from early problems. But, I am not panicking at this point. We are 2 points out of 2nd WC spot with a game in hand. We are 4 points back of 1st WC spot with 2 games in hand. Regardless of the actual standings on American Thanksgiving, we have to win those games in hand.

Sutter got frustrated with both Mange and Dube in the previous loss. Two chances to draw even and both not finished. Mangiapane with the wide open net and Dube with the down low chance. Obviously Toffoli missed one, but is one of the top players, so that is taken into consideration. As Conumdrumed mentioned, the issue was more the D play. Mangiapane focuses more on it on the PK.

Interesting comments from Sutter. Said with Lindy, his best player, you don't want to experiment. When something works, I guess you leave it. Not that Ruzicka is the right guy, but he's fitting in with Lindy.

I'm not sure I get the idea that Lucic is a top 6 player...on any team. Oh well. I get the sense Sutter isn't happy with Mange and Dube. Maybe consider Ruzicka-Lindholm-Toffoli Huberdeau-Kadri-Mangiapane Coleman-Backlund-Dube Kucic-Lewis-Ritchie Rooney

Most of the game was exactly like that. Strong start. A bit of poor play due to 4th line getting caught out too long. Excellent PK, especially the 5v3. We seem to injure an opposing player per game.

A complete 180 for Vegas this year. Few injuries and so far in front it's not funny.

I believe that Mange has been playing with Backlund a lot recently and Dube with Kadri and Coleman. For one thing, Backlund and Coleman should not have been touched. For another, Lewis does not belong in the middle 6. He was on the PK when he scored, which is where he plays his best. Or on the forecheck, disrupting. By the looks of your lines, I think you nailed it. The PP was bad last night. Lucic on the 2nd unit. Kadri on the wall. Ruzicka was decent but we didn't have the setup right.

As much as that describes a Sutter player, there are guys that have skills and need to use the skills first. He can grow into the power forward, but he abdicates to Lindy and Toffee. This was one of his best games so far.

Top line was the best line all night.

EN time