LTS

I'm all in for Sweden tonight. They should show well and if they can play the disciplined game they did against USA they should be in a great spot to win the game. Mittelstadt has looked great and I do hope for more today from him. Today's game is a sign of how players respond after failing. They blew up yesterday and anyone with pride should want to win this game big.

Risto was on a 2 game goal streak and ended up watching the game from the press box. I wonder if Reino can pull off the same feat? I'll probably have the game on tonight.. because I still relish the times my son and I can sit down and watch a game of hockey together. I'll hate it. He'll hate it. But we'll probably enjoy it a little bit as well.

Does Pittsburgh's loss tonight help grease the wheels for a trade? This game is a joke. They can use the Wild video on how to play hockey.

Based on the slo-no review in the intermission it's the right call on Risto. If he goes for more of a hip check then I think there's no call. Doesn't help that the Nation hit is fresh in the minds of officials either. Risto plays with an edge and he crossed it there.

Yup. Proud to pretty much never get a snow day in my 4 years at Kenmore East.

He did.. and he didn't get lucky. I like that he was the focus. I like that he still had chances. I didn't like that he became somewhat predictable. I absolutely hated him not passing on the 3-0. That has to be a goal and the easiest play for the goaltender to defend is the puck carrier never really looking at a pass option. Oh well.. he showed well and that's all we can ask for. Nylander was one of the top 3 for Sweden as well which is encouraging.

He became the focus of the other teams. They talked about it on the broadcast. Sweden has had 2 to 3 guys on him as soon as he touches the puck.

Ok. There is a little fire. Now Sweden gets to take free clearing shots at the empty net though.

Sweden forcing the US to play poorly and the US showing no moxie. Mittelstadt needed to pass on the 3-0. That would have changed things. Sweden wants it and they are playing very disciplined hockey to get there.

Hopefully able to watch some of this after watching Team USA today. Going to be a really tough game.

You pulled from a gem my friend. The bomb cyclone is a legitimate term according to NPR. It has to do with the pressure in a storm system dropping 24 millibars or more in a day. The article I read at one point said they expect it to be about 50 millibars. I like this article on it. https://www.popsci.com/bomb-cyclone#page-7

How's the Porkchop Express running these days?

Their success will make it impossible to trade the UFAs they have without turning off the fanbase. So now they will have to decide to sign a few and a few will walk for nothing which might interrupt the plan they had in place for the first 5 years. Of course, winning this year is cementing them with the fans as well so it's kind of a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. It was okay to be good... but perhaps they are just TOO good. :) The Leafs had a wonderful tribute to Johnny Bower. I really liked it. No overblown pomp and circumstance. It was classy and meaningful. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/maple-leafs-give-late-johnny-bower-amazing-farewell/

I had a quota. :) I used even strength because it removes special teams play from the mix and teams score more often on special teams across the board. Even the Sabres and Blue Jackets (seriously how are THEY still lower than the Sabres) score around 12% of the time. After that I am not sure what I am cherry picking. I used the top 16 goalies and compared to the playoff teams. Lehner's numbers are right there with teams in the playoff mix and he plays for the second worst team in the league. I was actually surprised Elliott's numbers were as high as they were given my overall impression of him as a goalie and it was surprising to see Crawford's numbers so high on Chicago who sits outside a playoff spot right now. It was rather entertaining. :)

It's easy to blame Lehner when you watch him play more than any other goalie. It's easy to blame Lehner when you get more upset when his team loses than any other team. Lots of people like to be completely irrational and blame it on fandom and then want to project their evaluation of a player as if they can be objective. It's a bit of a reach to be objective when you also get so worked up when your team loses. For goaltenders who have played 20 games or more this season (Even strength numbers) Lehner's SV% is .924 and EV GA is 56 Lundqvist is .926 and 64 GA Bobrovsky is .928 and 59 GA Quick is .927 and 55 GA Holtby is .927 and 55 GA Dubnyk is .923 and 47GA Crawford is .934 and 45GA All of those goalies are within the top 15 of the league. Looking at the top 16 goalies in the league in terms of EV SV% there are 6 teams who have goaltender in that list that are not in a playoff position. Chicago - 42 points (2 points out) Minnesota - 43 points (1 point out) Calgary - 42 points (2 points out) Vancouver - 37 points (7 points out) Philadelphia - 40 points (4 points out) Buffalo - 29 poiints (13 points out) Lehner seems to be performing fairly well with the top goaltenders on the top teams in the league this year. Does he let in a soft goal? He does. Lots of goalies do and you don't ever notice it because you don't watch every minute of every other goaltender. Finally, he's got to get fairly frustrated when the defense in front of him still doesn't clear bodies. The first Rangers goal should never happen and it's not the goaltender's fault. The Sabres had all 5 guys in the crease area and still a Ranger gets his stick on the puck. The only purpose of a defender once the puck is near the goalie is to get the offensive player and his stick nullified and away from the crease so the goaltender can cover the puck. When there are 9 sticks and 18 feet in the crease area it's pretty difficult to get a big glove down on the ice to cover the puck.

All goals scored in the same end. The Sabres have that end to finish the game. Better get another goal or two.

Already stopped watching the game. Shadows make it hard enough and then the camera angle completely kills it. I can't deal with that. NBC blew it.

My son and I were on our way home having just watched Team USA pull off a last minute win against Finland. We listened to the end of the game and then got to listen to Bulldog basically go speechless when the Bengals scored and the game ended. It was pretty cool to be driving down 90 and listening to it take place. I'm nowhere near the football fan I was when I was growing up in Buffalo but it's nice to have the team making the playoffs and getting people happy.

I think I will skip this game. Nah.. no way.

Last Bills game I was at ( a few years ago) they had a few as well but it still took an hour to get through the gate. It's a bit ridiculous. If their detectors don't work in the cold they sure didn't plan very well on their purchase of equipment. Even if they never had to plan for January games they know it can still get cold in December.

Truer words were never spoken.

Seems like the border delays are quite significant. I wonder if that's keeping people from attending as well? There was a video on tsn.ca about one of their reporters backed up at the border and it being a super long drive just from Toronto.

If we want to add to why is Brady pretty damned cool, let's go with this. https://www.bardown.com/brady-tkachuk-stop-to-thank-the-ice-crew-for-their-efforts-before-heading-to-the-locker-room-1.955229

Relax "Gramps". Get off my lawn much? I'm merely pointing out that your initial post looks only like a comment on Reinhart and making a suggestion on what would have communicated your point better. If you are not interested in my feedback that's fine. Your retort about every other player is possible, but they are still here and the topic of the thread is why is Jack on fire. Moulson is gone, so that actually did change and it may be related. If he doesn't like Larsson and Larsson is still here then I doubt that's much of a reason for his improvement in play as nothing has changed there eh? Calm your blood pressure and go grab something to eat at Cracker Barrel and then perhaps settle in and watch Jeopardy.

Eleven - another point on the discussion of outdoor rinks. https://www.bardown.com/sam-steel-s-outdoor-anaheim-ducks-and-regina-pats-themed-arena-is-fantastic-1.955470 Pretty cool stuff... and a heckuva a rink.