LTS

And Niskanen is on LTIR... he'd be helpful too.

That's two quality back checks by Eichel. He's building on his game. Please let it last.

He was working on 1.5 legs at that point.

Beauty work boys.

Extra Special. Errrr.. Even Strength

The lines have been changed during the game pretty much in every game. I'm not concerned. Let's play hockey!

Caps better find a defense soon. That's their downfall right now.

http://www.wgr550.com/articles/news/bailey-has-right-attitude (linked on front page)

Oh.. I don't cross-thread. ;)

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Casey will play goal so he can be on the ice all 60 minutes and lead the team in scoring while shooting from his crease. Seriously, I thought you guys paid attention to hockey.

Reinhart has scored in as many games as McDavid has... (I love spinning stats). McDavid hasn't scored in his last 5 games. Is he no longer invited to the All-Star game? Marner is on the Leafs 4th line, he's washed up. Just argue the point that Liger made... he hasn't struggled the past 2 games. There is probably a reason he excluded the first 4 games as I don't think anyone can make an argument to support that he didn't suck in them. In addition, it could just be that the coach was misusing the player relative to his strengths since he's performed better being at wing over center. A much debated point on this board. So, do you blame a player for not performing when the coach has him in the wrong position? Let's put Auston Matthews on defense and then discuss his hockey skills. -------------------------- In other news, reading the Justin Bailey article was cool. I think it's telling the atmosphere that Botterill has brought to the team when you hear Bailey say the message for him being sent down was significantly different than the one he received from Murray. The more we hear the more we can begin to recognize that the Murray/Bylsma show was built on just beating players over the head with the paddle of hard knocks and hoping they came out stronger because of it. The truly old school method as opposed to the more interpersonal methods that are required these days when dealing with players. Good to hear.

Can't wait to see another game! Love the picture of Sam in the original post. It's usually hard to explain to kids what split vision is but that picture exemplifies it perfectly... at least as near as I can tell. Time for Jack-pot. You can all groan with me.

I appreciate that. the original discussion point spoke of ten years of failure so I was going of that. I might have misspoke about playoffs. Honestly don't keep track of that stuff. It's in the past.

Gah. Mother Nature knocked my power out and got it back in time to see the SHG. But then I see Reinhart score. I missed so much... But now I can see. Yay.

The word is accountable. The frustration of the fan base, or more specifically, the frustration level of each individual fan is their own cross to bear. From a business perspective the ownership certainly understands that a stretch of overall poor performance will wear thin on its customers. If the ownership was the same you could at least say they are accountable for the entirety of this streak (the past decade) but the ownership has changed, the GM has changed, the players have changed, the coaching has changed. Fans can be as upset as they want to be but focus the blame for that frustration where it belongs. If you allow the actions of another to cause you to be frustrated then its on you, not them. They are under no obligation to change their behavior to meet your expectations. It can be argued that changes could lead to a better overall scenario but that doesn't mean it has to happen. I think, right now, Housley is trying to learn more about this team. I'd have to look more last night. I didn't like putting Kane up on the Eichel line but it did work. I think he began moving Reinhart up with ROR and Kane because he showed at the beginning of the game he was going to play harder. Some of the decision making of who was on the ice and when may be suspect but I'd have to know if they had just been on the ice. Housley is a new head coach with 5 games under his belt. He's learning too. The question is do you believe he has the capacity to lead this team as they progress.

Earlier game tonight so I can be up at my normal hour tomorrow morning. Looking forward to watching tonight. Can't wait in fact.

Yep, and only 1 goal last night for them. Connor MCDavid... 3G, 2,A... he used everything in the first game.

I didn't notice him on the ice for the PK goals though. Was he? Well, given the standards that some fans on here have for their own postings I am not surprised. We ask for a team to have control, to play disciplined, to be better and then we don't ask the same of ourselves. There are posters on there who are the equivalent of Radko Gudas and we allow them to get under our skin and take cheap shots at us and then feel the need to dignify idiots with a response? We're one and the same with this team. By the way, I am using we, it does not mean to include all. This team gave up 0 ES goals last night to a good team. It's improving. There are some players who are definitely making the process more difficult. Right now I'd say there are 4 players in the lineup who need to not be in the lineup. 82, 5, 67, and 25. If we could replace them with Bogo/Falk, Antipin, Bailey, Fashing I think we'd be in a much better spot right now. Because those players are not carrying their weight out there they cause other players to have to do more and play where they are not best used.

I'm okay with Moulson. But Pouliot has to sit. Ray pointed out, rightfully, that Pouliot needed to block that shot. Bring someone up. Best game of the season. It's coming along.

Ok. That's perfect.

Don't let 82 on the ice.

Tennyson needs to sit. They need Bogo and Falk healthy. It pushes a few others off the ice.

Indeed. I can listen to shenanigans and post at the sane time. By now I'm pretty sure I know what the scene on the screen is...

And SuperTroopers is on IFC...making commercial breaks that much better.

Housley switched the lines. He wants all the offense together when they need a goal. And boom. Moulson, ROR, Girgs are in shutdown mode.