SwampD Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 As entertaining as he is, there are some very good reasons why Don Cherry had a very short coaching career. On the whole, I think Buffalo has done a good job of covering point. The problems last night had much more to do with zone entry and playing look at me Mr. fancystick, and neutral zone brain farts like Mad Max's. Those aren't part of any system. The biggest part of the system -( if you want to call it that - lets just call it Lindy's expectations) - is that the defense has offensive zone responsibilities and also they are committed to a flowed exchange in transition out of the defensive zone. If anything my biggest problem with it is that there are times when icing the puck may be the best decision, or simply dumping it to the neutral zone. I agree and only mentioned him to give a time frame. He does make me laugh though. Mr fancystick...nice. Lindy even said that it was designed so that when the D got the puck to the forwards, they would already have a head of steam leaving our zone. The only problem is when there is a problem with the exchange, the turnover happens a lot deeper in our zone and in the middle of the ice, not on the boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 Their poor face off numbers might discourage too many icings , however. I've been wondering a lot about this. Certainly Tortarella is going to throw Lecavalier and St. Louis out there iwhenever you ice it. But if they are already out there anyway...? Of course Tampa took the early time out on an icing...so you know coaches aren't anxious for to let their teams get in the habit. On the whole, I love the icing rule and prohibiting the line change. It is one of the best changes they have made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted March 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 While it was hard to discern from the origial post if this was the intent, I think elephant in the room is how on earth does this team play that second period last night? The first period has the effort but not the excecution but the second period they really seemed to be gripping it. I know that may happen with a young team but the season is on the line. What more does it take to get these guys motivated? I'll except a period or game where the effort was there and they just weren't good enough but to lay an egg like the 2nd period at this point in the season baffles me. Bingo. This is what I was driving at -- we have talent and we've been beating the crappy teams in high-scoring, exciting fashion, but we have no mental toughness. This problem manifests itself in (i) not showing up for life-or-death situations like the 2nd period last night and (ii) losing almost all of the tight games against the better teams in the conference. You are 100% right, but the thing is that Philly has been no better. The Flyers have not beaten any of the top 5 teams in the East since Jan. 24, almost 2 months ago. Boston has some good wins when they were hot in February but has 3 wins this month and they are against Atlanta, Washington and slumping Philly. For as hot as Washington has been, the only playoff team they have beaten this month is Boston and they have bad losses to the Leafs and Blackhawks.I'm not defending the Sabres as a Cup contender or even a team that could surprise and win a round. I'm just saying the reason all these teams are battling for the last couple spots is that they are all pretty flawed. The way the league is set up you don't really have to beat the really good teams regularly to get in the playoffs. I don't think any of us sees the Sabres as a true contender, but they are good enough to make the playoffs if they play well down the stretch. Couple wins against the Leafs and a couple more head-to-head against Boston and all of a sudden they have a fighting chance and they still will not have beaten anyone any good. This is all true, but I have no interest in being as good as Philly, Washington or Boston. The Sabres were a legit cup contender for 2 years and they have the TALENT to do so again, or at least be in the mix. They just don't have the mental toughness, which is infuriating. How many times this year have they won a couple of games and then laid an egg in a home game? (answer: a lot). All the giddiness I'm hearing from the fans and even hosts on WGR has me irked. I'm as happy as the next guy for the win but man it sure as hell took them a long time to wake up. This game doesn't bode well for the future. I do expect a team on the verge of playoff elimination to play like they care. That was questionable during the 2nd period last night. Again, 100% agree on both of these posts. It's crazy for anyone to be giddy right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmwolf21 Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 All the giddiness I'm hearing from the fans and even hosts on WGR has me irked. I'm as happy as the next guy for the win but man it sure as hell took them a long time to wake up. This game doesn't bode well for the future. I don't want to see my team giddy until they are hoisting a certain silver chalice over their heads. Before that? Never. I do expect a team on the verge of playoff elimination to play like they care. That was questionable during the 2nd period last night. we had the same discussion in the GDT last night, and I agree 100%. You can understand a game where their focus and effort is off in October - February, but coming off a two-day break and fighting for your playoff lives with nine games to go? That's tough to handle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetweenThePipes00 Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 This is all true, but I have no interest in being as good as Philly, Washington or Boston. The Sabres were a legit cup contender for 2 years and they have the TALENT to do so again, or at least be in the mix. They just don't have the mental toughness, which is infuriating. How many times this year have they won a couple of games and then laid an egg in a home game? (answer: a lot). I hear ya but they are not going to just wake up one morning with this mental toughness. This is the crap a young team goes through to get it. (They did it the year before the lockout too and that was a team with Drury and Briere on it and remember those guys are GREAT leaders :rolleyes: ... they still missed the playoffs) If they keep battling here and get in, I am not going to dismiss it as "big deal, I don't want to be as good as Boston" ... I don't want to be as bad as Toronto, either. Since we can all agree we're not winning the Cup this year, let's see if they can gut out five or six more wins and get some more playoff experience. It's not the worst thing in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 Since we can all agree we're not winning the Cup this year... Count me as one who diagrees... :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R_Dudley Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 As entertaining as he is, there are some very good reasons why Don Cherry had a very short coaching career. On the whole, I think Buffalo has done a good job of covering point. The problems last night had much more to do with zone entry and playing look at me Mr. fancystick, and neutral zone brain farts like Mad Max's. Those aren't part of any system. The biggest part of the system -( if you want to call it that - lets just call it Lindy's expectations) - is that the defense has offensive zone responsibilities and also they are committed to a flowed exchange in transition out of the defensive zone. If anything my biggest problem with it is that there are times when icing the puck may be the best decision, or simply dumping it to the neutral zone. :lol: Mr fancystick,,,, Thats MR FANCYSTICK.... :lol: Is that like the Applebee's of hockey players... :D I just gotta say love the analogies. :wub: .. That aside I agree Cherry is not coaching for a reason.. and I also agree that Lindy's system allow's the outside perimeter shots and either tries to clog the primo shooting lanes or lets the goalie see it all the way and the resposnibility is then to tie up the man(no rebounds). It works well when the players are executing/working it. Last yeah that biggest part of the system where I also do see it break down is like you said, when the other teams forecheck is on our D it really disrupts the "Flowed exchange", thats what other teams have keyed on and our transition then becomes that dump around the boards that the other team always appears to be waiting for. The youth /age is a factor but also the amount of time these guy's have played together regardless of age is as much of factor in why this breaks down so much. Last for me I have no expectations of a cup but I also believe it ain't over till the Fat Lady sings. This team can certainly benefit from the experience it is getting and it does still need to really come together as team, that is part of the Dr Jekyll Mr Hyde we see shift to shift, period to period, night to night....... and If by chance it should tend to get hot at the right time well, I suspect Lindy will have allot of fun with that and I will watching.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campy Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 As entertaining as he is, there are some very good reasons why Don Cherry had a very short coaching career. On the whole, I think Buffalo has done a good job of covering point. The problems last night had much more to do with zone entry and playing look at me Mr. fancystick, and neutral zone brain farts like Mad Max's. Those aren't part of any system. The biggest part of the system -( if you want to call it that - lets just call it Lindy's expectations) - is that the defense has offensive zone responsibilities and also they are committed to a flowed exchange in transition out of the defensive zone. If anything my biggest problem with it is that there are times when icing the puck may be the best decision, or simply dumping it to the neutral zone. :unsure: His short coaching career was due more to his anger management issues than his abilities. He won AHL Coach of the Year while coaching the Amerks. He also led the Bruins to 2 Cup finals and also won the NHL's Jack Adams Award. Not too bad for a 10 year run... What did him in was his temper and his mouth - but he was a terrific coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 :unsure: His short coaching career was due more to his anger management issues than his abilities. He won AHL Coach of the Year while coaching the Amerks. He also led the Bruins to 2 Cup finals and also won the NHL's Jack Adams Award. Not too bad for a 10 year run... What did him in was his temper and his mouth - but he was a terrific coach. Or two many men on the ice? This is going back a ways, but my recollections are of him having loaded teams that underachieved. Okay, every year they ran into Montreal, but nearly everyone made the playoffs then and if anything their talent was under appreciated - Middleton, O'Reilly, Cashman, Parks... the lunch-pail gang, wasn't it? So did he get more out of less - which was the perception he tried to cultivate, or did he get less out of more? (NHL strictly speaking). Anyway...he is entertaining and I love watching him. But I am happy he never coached Buffalo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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