lets go pavel

I agree, Nabokov played well , when you get a shutout what else can you say ... BUT ... I don't know that he had to make all that many tough saves, wristers from the blue line and all, and he also gave up a lot of rebounds that we didn't get to, either because we were tired or the D had great positioning ... either way, had we reached a couple of those rebounds it would have been a different game and Nabokov might not look so good ... I agree Homer could be a huge difference-maker, but things aren't sounding so good there ...

I think we might take what Homer does for granted a wee bit ... if anyone could step in and do what he does then every team in the league would have a Homer, and they don't ... Homer is clearly the best at what he does, and noone on our roster is going to fill his skates (or the seat of his pants) in front of the crease. So the question is, are we better off to try to find a less-than-Homer replacement for him and run the same power play, or do we change our strategy while he is out? Based on last night I think I'd favor the latter, but I don't know how easy that is to do mid-series. We've done things the Homer way for so long ...

What??? But then who's going to let all the gently rolling pucks out of the offensive zone? Seriously, it would seem like it should be Calder, Bert, or Franzen because of their size, but they all have had the opportunity on the PP to set up in front of the net and they never sem to do much there. This would probably be insane, but just for the sake of conversation, what would happen if we put Lilypads in front of their net? He's got size, he's hard to move ...

In that case our guys should be very ... uhhh ... spent?

Yup ... the 4-corners thing we do never seems to do anything unless we get lucky with a screened shot from the blue line ... the only time we ever seem to shake up the defense is when Hank or Pavel skate the puck around a D-guy to the middle of the ice - then everyone seems to collapse and we get open shots.

Yup ... I think a lot of people assume that a physical game works in SJ's favor because of their size, but I think it's the reverse. Because of their size and speed they have the advantage when it comes to controlling space ... if we don't bring a physical game to them to try to open up some space on the ice I think we're going to continue to have a hard time finding room to skate, especially in their zone. I agree, but I don't think Bert likes parking in front ... maybe he doesn't want to take the crosschecks to his back? I don't know, but it seems like he prefers to skate around rather than park it ... the only time I can remember him in front last night was when he took that shot to the hand.

I agree the shots were for the most part lousy, and yes, shot counts don't mean anything when it comes to quality of scoring chances ... but they generate quite a few good rebound opportunities that we just couldn't seem to get to. Now maybe that is to SJ's credit, no doubt they played a great defensive game after gaining the 2-0 lead. I don't know about the mental fatigue ... I thought we looked pretty flat from the start. No question the PP is a huge problem ... even with Homer last series it didn't look good, and yesterday it was downright pitiful ...

I agree with most of the folks above, I don't think we played badly ... for most of the game we controlled the puck, we outshot them 2 to 1, and we didn't give up many quality chances ... what I did notice is that we seemed just a bit more tired than they were. Our guys were hustling and trying, they just didn't have that extra jump in their skates. How many of those rebounds could we have put in if our guys were just a half-step faster (or if Homer were in)? How many passes slipped just out of our reach, that with another half step would have generated more scoring chances? Part of this is certainly SJ's size and speed, take nothing away from them, they played well, but even in open ice our guys just looked a bit tired ... you know how if you're really tired and you sleep for an hour you feel refreshed, but if you sleep for 3 hours you wake up feeling worse than when you went to sleep? Maybe we had just enough time off to let the fatigue set in, but not enough time off to recuperate ... hopefully by Saturday we'll have our jump back.

Pregame speech anyone?

Okay, we are banged up, and on paper that looks bad ... but most of the injured players played last series and contributed despite their injuries. More importantly, isn't this the kind of adversity that we never seem to face, and then when we run into another team in the playoffs that is more banged up and faced more adversity we get our asses handed to us? If anything, I think having a few players out will make the others step it up a notch ... and we have enough of them healthy that can do that. I like where we are ... banged up, underestimated, gritty, and still fighting. Reminds me a lot of the teams that usually put us out.

You're right, who will we go to now??? Oh yeah ... Dats, Z, Lids, Schneider, Bert, Franzen, Cleary ... oh yeah and Hasek's still in goal. We'll be fine ... besides, if Sammy can't shoot that works in our favor

Cleary could be interesting, but he seems to be clicking with Malts and Drapes ... what about Calder? Maybe some time with the twins would get him going again too?

I don't know about Bert on the top line, I think Franzen is a better fit. In the games I've seen Bert doesn't seem to like to park in front of the goalie as much but just kind of skate by ... that'll just get in Hank and Pavel's way. Plus he hasn't struck me as a great passer, a lot of blind passes that result in turnovers, and our top line more than any other really relies on puck possession to give time for the twins to work their magic. Franzen on the other hand brings a similar physical presence, more hustle, more likely to scrum in the corners to keep pucks, and more willing to park in front of the net, and can pass the puck. Plus without Bert on the second line SJ can focus on shutting down the top line more.

Thoughts from a first-time poster and long-time wings fan ... I can live with Iginla's actions, if they were isolated they wouldn't be a big deal, the butt-end was iffy and I don't think the intent was to injure, everyone knows he's their sparkplug and when they're down he gets rough to try to fire them up ... on our team we'd love that ... Huselius is a *****, it was a clean hip check, and that was a sucker punch all the way ... I've got to agree that McLennan was sent out there for one purpose and he served it ... you can't tell me his frustration boiled over after 15 seconds ...