Taro T

Really don't see it as a lack of effort or a belief that they'll just roll over the next opponent after getting a W. Expect it's more often a case of giving up a bad early goal putting them on their heels for too long to work their way out of it.

True, but the value of his was entirely superficial. Thompson's when on are functional.

Nobody here is a bigger backer of Levi than this kid, but they should play UPL tonight. They'll need 2 good goalies these last 51 games. Time to get UPL's game back.

Since they "killed the 3 headed monster", UPL is 0-3-0 with a 4.51 GAA and a 0.833 SV%. Granted he was coming off illness in the last game, but he hasn't been good since having been handed the reins. But, give him this game. He should be able to play well in it. The Q becomes, do they risk him NOT having a good game and playing Comrie as the backup or do they play Levi as the backup. Expecting they'll make Comrie the backup, but there is a risk involved there.

Go UPL. Give Levi the BJ's. (Unless UPL pitches a SO in Desert Dog land. Then think long and hard about who to give the C-Bus game.) And then, if Levi's still playing the way he's been playing (or he didn't get the C-Bus game) give him the Loafs as well. He won in his last outing against them and played well even though the stats don't agree. Whereas UPL got lit up his last game vs TO and that's the game that led to the ridiculous "hometown advantage" ticketing poicy.

Lately, he's turning away from confrontation with the D-man. He has no confidence in his healing wrist at this point. But he's giving the effort and presumably with use his hands will get back to what they were.

He MIGHT've been a steal at 9th overall. It was highway robbery getting him at 13. 😉

Could @pi2000 or a mod please change the title of this thread? At least unless he's sent back down again. Everytime it pops up expect to read that the braintrust down at 1 Seymour H Knox III Plaza did it again.

6 years of having $3MM less cap space than everybody else is a self-imposed penalty would really rather see them avoid.

Even if you include his play post-injury (a 9 game sample) his record is 5-1-2 with a 0.901 SV% and a 2.97 GAA. Which is still darn good for a rook. (The GAA since coming back up is 1.71. They can work with that. 😉 )

They don't. But IF the top 2 lines are working with Cozens on a wing, it doesn't really matter whether Krebs (or even Jost or a callup or a traded for for a 6th rounder) is a middle 6 player or a bottom 6 player. Other teams bottom 6ers and bottom pairing guys will get overcome often just by the 2 wingers that ARE top 6 players. (Once Quinn gets his legs back under him. Expect that might not occur until about a month after he's back.) Get 2 scoring lines working. THEN worry about how to make an effective 3rd scoring line.

Would really suck if getting rid of Skinner is necessary for them to play like this consistently. Because with his NMC he ain't goin' anywhere.

They do, definitely since the 2nd Broons game. But that wasn't the case earlier in the year. But, earlier in the year they were playing that way for UPL and not for the other 2 guys. They played extremely well the last 55 minutes of the 1st Avs game for UPL. Waaaaay better than they played for Levi in his Rags, Aisles, or the 1st Broon game.

Get good goaltending to start the game. Get them believing they'll get the chance to get into a groove. Levi and UPL CAN do that for them. The 83rd game question is will they? You know this kid believes in Levi. Hoping UPL can continue to do his part as well.

Maybe. Levi plays the way he did regardless. But Benson doesn't get to play with Thompson and Tuch and Cozens doesn't get to play with Peterka and Mittelstadt.

A BIG part of it, IMHO is the goaltending. When the goalies are on their game to start, the team seems to feed off it. Earlier in the year UPL was on. Levi's been winning (5-1-2) since coming back from injury and has been ON since coming back up. Really happy with Levi's game tonight. His rebound control for the most part was much better than it's been. That 2nd goal seemed to have a bad bounce off him to the front of the net and in most of his games this year he's let that sort of goal get into his head a bit. It didn't at ALL this time. He also had prior to coming back up let in a late goal in most games. That didn't happen this time either. Absolutely loved the "Toyota big save" play because that had his anticipation, tracking, awareness, and flexibility all on display. Didn't Mittelstadt and Cozens play pretty well together last year in limited opportunities together? (Or is that just misremembering?) Would like to see both the Thompson line and the Mittelstadt line stay together for a bit. If those 2 lines can generate some chemistry, in a couple of weeks they could have a 3rd scoring line with Skinner and Quinn flanking somebody (maybe Krebs?). They still break down too much defensively, but they seemed to be maintaining better gaps through the neutral zone and had quite a few nice breakouts and shutting down scoring chances. Takes all 6 guys working together to do that. Expect they'll give UPL tomorrow's game. If they play the way they did tonight they should be able to get their 1st 2 win streak since early in the year.

Vegas now 6-1-3 their last 10.

Not understanding that one. Wasn't he giving the Avs what they'd expected when they signed him? He's on pace for where he was 2 years ago. (Behind last year's pace, but he's 33. They couldn't have expected last year's guy could they?)

Win tonight and they have a GREAT chance to be on a 3 game winning streak heading into the Loafs coming to town. Baby steps.

Anyone even remotely surprised that with that happening it was 2 teams in KC's division that were the recipients of those beat downs? (A close 2nd guess would've been AFC or NFC South teams taking that.)

Why do you find that odd? Have you been here the past 2 weeks?

Would add they also need the PP to actually become useful. They did try changing up the scheme last game and they're changing up personnel this game, so theres a slight hope. But just have no faith that the coaches actually understand WHY they're making the changes they're making. Or, at a minimum, if THEY understand why don't expect they understand why well enough to explain it to the team. And the last thing they need to do is maintain gaps on the transition back into the zone to theoretically prevent some zone entries into their end and then play structured in their own end in all phases of the game. We're getting told that they're getting taught the new system. Should it actually start clicking with them that would help them play at the level they need to down the stretch to keep this from being a lost season. Not giving up on them, but it is shocking that they have but a single 2 game winning streak through 30 games.

Darn it. The stupid Lightning Bolts fired Staley and the GM the week before they play the Bills. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39119933/chargers-fire-head-coach-brandon-staley-gm-tom-telesco

DON'T forget the coleslaw.

It's possible. Expect it's more of a case of young guys not having enough experienced guys that have actually been there for them to lean on when they start gripping the sticks too tight. Expect as @Marvin points out the way they're supposed to be playing isn't ingrained yet and they end up thinking too much when things aren't going right and then reverting to old habits. It was an interesting experiment, trying to get a losing team to get good at the fun part of the game before getting good at the harder part of the game. @PerreaultForever hated the idea from day 1. And maybe if the proper support pieces were brought in this offseason it could've worked. But so far it isn't there. And we're left with hoping that when the F's get healthy they can work the new system the way it's supposed to work because it isn't very likely that the GM will be bringing in outside help beyond a Robinson type that helps at the fringes. The experiment CAN work, but with some major growing pains. The Eulers of the 80's famously took to heart losing to the Aisles in '83 and figuring out that they needed to compete harder and get grittier to get over the top. Playing loose could get them to the Finals because they were so much better than the other teams in their conference; but they bore down when they got to the Finals and beat a beat up Phlyers or Broons after that rematch with the Aisles. But right now the whole thing is frustrating. Hopefully tonight they get the 1st W of the 1st win streak.