Out of Town 20-21

[Disgruntled70sHab]

[jkr]

I looked at summaries this morning & see that the Oilers lost another one goal game to Toronto. Twice they ties it in the 3rd only to give up the go ahead goal 1-2 minutes later.

They have two premier offensive talents. They should be scaring the crap out of teams but despite coaching & management changes, they continue to spiral. They are now 3-6-0.

[seventeen]

Jan 29, 2021 6:41:13 GMT -5 jkr said:

I looked at summaries this morning & see that the Oilers lost another one goal game to Toronto. Twice they ties it in the 3rd only to give up the go ahead goal 1-2 minutes later.

They have two premier offensive talents. They should be scaring the crap out of teams but despite coaching & management changes, they continue to spiral. They are now 3-6-0.

Two primary issues - Holland didn't fix the most glaring weakness on the team, goaltending. It's still not good enough

Secondly, they didn't expect their best defenseman, Klefbom, to be out for the full year. To gain perspective, imagine the Habs losing Petry for the rest of the season. What would that do to the quality of the D?

[folatre]

Supposedly Edmonton tried to make a pitch to Markstrom, though honestly with their cap predicament I have no idea how they would have made that work. Klefbom is a big loss, no doubt about it. I like Nurse but I see him more like a solid #2 or an excellent #3 type d-man. With the Oilers, he is basically asked to the #1 d-man. I like Bear too, but he seems a little in over his head this season.

The lower rungs of that roster (bottom six forwards and bottom pair defense) are really quite poor despite Holland's best efforts to improve the depth in the off-season.

Another oddity that helped the Oilers last season was having hands down the best special teams in the NHL. Sometimes there is no precise explanation for why it happened, nor is there a precise reason why it's not happening anymore. But it's not and that hurts because they bagged more points last season than their soft 5 v 5 should have garnered.

[folatre]

Regarding the Leafs, I hear plenty about them from my brother in law and I cannot claim that I have watched more than half of their games. But the d-corps looks pretty decent. Brodie is better than Barrie. Reilly looks healthy this season. Holl seems more stable and less panicky. And for me the main factor driving the better team defense is the crazy work rate the forwards are giving. In the past I thought Matthews and Marner coasted a lot on the ice and this season they are working incredibly hard.

Who knows. The test awaits in the playoffs. But the uncanny thing (and this guarantees though in fairness it probably a very good sign) is all seven of Toronto's wins have been one goal victories (either literally one goal or one plus an empty netter), so the Leafs are getting a lot of experience and confidence in having to find a way in tight tilts even when on many nights they do not look that much better than their opposition.

[jkr]

Jan 29, 2021 14:25:50 GMT -5 seventeen said:

Jan 29, 2021 6:41:13 GMT -5 jkr said:

I looked at summaries this morning & see that the Oilers lost another one goal game to Toronto. Twice they ties it in the 3rd only to give up the go ahead goal 1-2 minutes later.

They have two premier offensive talents. They should be scaring the crap out of teams but despite coaching & management changes, they continue to spiral. They are now 3-6-0.

Two primary issues - Holland didn't fix the most glaring weakness on the team, goaltending. It's still not good enough

Secondly, they didn't expect their best defenseman, Klefbom, to be out for the full year. To gain perspective, imagine the Habs losing Petry for the rest of the season. What would that do to the quality of the D?

You're right about the goaltending. Koskinen has played every minute this season. If he's the best they can find, they aren't making the playoffs.

[Willie Dog]

Jan 29, 2021 16:21:07 GMT -5 folatre said:

Regarding the Leafs, I hear plenty about them from my brother in law and I cannot claim that I have watched more than half of their games. But the d-corps looks pretty decent. Brodie is better than Barrie. Reilly looks healthy this season. Holl seems more stable and less panicky. And for me the main factor driving the better team defense is the crazy work rate the forwards are giving. In the past I thought Matthews and Marner coasted a lot on the ice and this season they are working incredibly hard.

Who knows. The test awaits in the playoffs. But the uncanny thing (and this guarantees though in fairness it probably a very good sign) is all seven of Toronto's wins have been one goal victories (either literally one goal or one plus an empty netter), so the Leafs are getting a lot of experience and confidence in having to find a way in tight tilts even when on many nights they do not look that much better than their opposition.

Getting PPs after the 10 minute mark in the 3rd period helps too

[Disgruntled70sHab]

[jkr]

Jan 29, 2021 17:23:51 GMT -5 Willie Dog said:

Jan 29, 2021 16:21:07 GMT -5 folatre said:

Regarding the Leafs, I hear plenty about them from my brother in law and I cannot claim that I have watched more than half of their games. But the d-corps looks pretty decent. Brodie is better than Barrie. Reilly looks healthy this season. Holl seems more stable and less panicky. And for me the main factor driving the better team defense is the crazy work rate the forwards are giving. In the past I thought Matthews and Marner coasted a lot on the ice and this season they are working incredibly hard.

Who knows. The test awaits in the playoffs. But the uncanny thing (and this guarantees though in fairness it probably a very good sign) is all seven of Toronto's wins have been one goal victories (either literally one goal or one plus an empty netter), so the Leafs are getting a lot of experience and confidence in having to find a way in tight tilts even when on many nights they do not look that much better than their opposition.

Getting PPs after the 10 minute mark in the 3rd period helps too

Hey, no positive stuff about the Leafs.

Their goal difference surprised me for an offensive team, only plus 5. The other thing is that they have played 7 of their 9 games against the bottom of the division. Calgary, Ottawa and EDM have a combined record of 6-15-2. I know good teams have to feast on the bottom feeders but I need to see them play more against the top of the division.

[franko]

Jan 30, 2021 7:16:49 GMT -5 jkr said:

I know good teams have to feast on the bottom feeders but I need to see them play more against the top of the division.

yup, they'll be playing us soon.

[Willie Dog]

Jan 30, 2021 9:45:08 GMT -5 franko said:

Jan 30, 2021 7:16:49 GMT -5 jkr said:

I know good teams have to feast on the bottom feeders but I need to see them play more against the top of the division.

yup, they'll be playing us soon.

When we play them we should focus on matthews, hit him every chance we get... have Perry work him over and then unleash the D, if only to see if his agent is going to cry again...

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Jan 30, 2021 7:16:49 GMT -5 jkr said:

Hey, no positive stuff about the Leafs.

Tell me about it ... I left a positive comment about Marc Bergevin's work on Damien Cox's Twitter feed, and it triggered a multi-level attack by Leaf fans ... I didn't participate in it after my initial tweet, I just sat back and let it develop on its own ... kept me chuckling the whole time I was reading that thread ...

Cheers.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

[Willie Dog]

Jan 31, 2021 18:03:31 GMT -5 Disgruntled70sHab said:

Would have been nice to see him in a Habs uni... just like Kovalchuk

[NWTHabsFan]

Tanev’s first goal with the Flames. Ouch. Big ouch.

[Willie Dog]

What's going on with DeAngelo in Ragland???

[franko]

Feb 2, 2021 13:56:53 GMT -5 Willie Dog said:

What's going on with DeAngelo in Ragland???

he was a baaad boy

[NWTHabsFan]

Hogberg looked terrible on that goal to Drai. 3-0 Oilers on 7 shots. I guess we see Murray on Thursday.

[jkr]

Feb 2, 2021 22:37:56 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

Hogberg looked terrible on that goal to Drai. 3-0 Oilers on 7 shots. I guess we see Murray on Thursday.

Ya. He was practically out of the net. Draisaitl had about 5 feet to shoot at.

[jkr]

Unfortunately for teams in the Bruins division Pastrnak returned Monday. In 3 games, he has 5 goals including a hat trick last night & an assist on the OT winner. Four points for Bergeron as well.

[Willie Dog]

Feb 4, 2021 8:31:18 GMT -5 jkr said:

Unfortunately for teams in the Bruins division Pastrnak returned Monday. In 3 games, he has 5 goals including a hat trick last night & an assist on the OT winner. Four points for Bergeron as well.

The Bruins have a small team, treat them like they've treated other teams for a decade while the ape was on the back end... make crossing the blue line a dangerous endeavour and ensure the area in front of the net is a no parking zone.

[Tankdriver]

Imagine being back in last years division. Leafs (2 losses), Lightning (1 loss), Bruins (1 loss), Panthers (0 losses * six games), Canadiens (1 loss) are not lossing in regulation this year. Even Buffalo is 4-4. Ottawa and Detroit are bad and would still be destroyed but ouff, next year will not be easy.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

[Disgruntled70sHab]

... a league-wide problem ...

[Cranky]

Jan 31, 2021 18:03:31 GMT -5 Disgruntled70sHab said:

Pleky still playing? Is that desperate about money or lack of mirrors in his house?

Also speaks volumes of the level of play of that league.

[NWTHabsFan]

There you go....it is so simple.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Feb 4, 2021 10:33:40 GMT -5 Tankdriver said:

Imagine being back in last years division. Leafs (2 losses), Lightning (1 loss), Bruins (1 loss), Panthers (0 losses * six games), Canadiens (1 loss) are not lossing in regulation this year. Even Buffalo is 4-4. Ottawa and Detroit are bad and would still be destroyed but ouff, next year will not be easy.

I'm trying to follow the other divisions a bit and Boston has Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak back from injuries ... they're rolling ... also keeping an eye on Dallas and Tampa in the Central ... Vegas is still in the mix in the west ... they haven't played as many games as Colorado and St. Louis, but they've only lost one game, as well ... so many good teams ...

Cheers.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

... more on the officiating phenomenon ...

[BadCompany]

I guess (?) this is proof that not only Montreal gets screwed by the league?

scoutingtherefs.com/2021/02/30795/challenge-controversy-as-hurricanes-goal-stands-later-ruled-offside-by-nhl/

Wild one in Columbus, where the Hurricanes scored late in the 2nd period, a game that they would ultimately go on to win by one goal. Because of course it had to be by one goal. Columbus challenged the play, saying it was offside, but were denied. Good goal, penalty to Columbus for the remaining 1:15 in the 2nd period, and for 45 seconds to start the 3rd period.

During the intermission - and 1:15 seconds into the Blue Jacket's penalty - they review the goal again. Seems for reasons that have not yet been explained, the linesman did not get all replay views available to them. One of them clearly shows Carolina being offside. So they got it wrong. Sucks, but I guess it happens? (though of course it's not supposed to happen with replay but whatever). So the league decides to cancel the remaining 45 seconds of the powerplay, but not cancel the goal. They make this decision in the middle of the game.

So the goal that shouldn't have counted, counted, and the Blue Jackets played 1:15 short-handed, when they didn't have to. And they lost by one goal.

I get wanting to get the call right... but if they were going to do that, get the call right, then they should have rescinded the goal and played the last 1:15 of the second period over again. There are lots of precedents for playing the final minute or two of a period after an intermission. But instead, as is the NHL's way, they half-way it. They get the no-penalty part of it right, but leave the goal and time parts wrong. Again, in a one goal game.

[Disgruntled70sHab]