Game Recaps

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

12/13 - Preds v. Colorado CandyPants

...after some games you walk away when the horn sounds and simply shake your head in frustration.

a grinding, ugly game. a game where it looked like we had 11 3rd and 4th line forwards out there. well of course that isn't far from the truth actually. a few thoughts while things are still bitter on the tongue.

...the waived off goal was the type of inexplicable thing that helps hockey not make many new fans. intent to blow the whistle?!? are you kidding me? i watched it live, i watched the replay twice, i listened to crisp and to trotz try to explain what they thought, i taped and watched the play again when i got home. and i still don't know why it didn't count. if i had been the captain or trotz, i'd had to been physically carried off the ice demanding a better explaination before i allowed the puck to be dropped again.

...dumont and arnott are pretty much totally ineffective right now without someone on their line like erat to make things happen. there's a chance dumont was drunk tonight. must have had 5 pucks just roll off his stick trying to stickhandle. arnott simply cann't generate a shot for himself. for him to be effective he has to sit in the slot and let a playmaker make a play and put the puck square on his stick. of course, when they do, right now he couldn't bury it into a soccer net. it's almost hurts to watch fiddler working so hard and being so out of his element having to try to be a playmaker on a scoring line.

...legwand with a bad giveaway in the neutral zone. make no mistake about it. however, he hustled and forced smyth wide and made him take an easy shot from way out beyond the dot. mason totally unscreened, with plenty of time to prepare for the shot, doesn't close the 5 hole and lets in a prayer. even smyth was shocked, and looked to the heavens when it went in. you simply cann't allow this type of goal in a tie game in the third and expect to win. i'm shocked the entire team didn't fold immediately and give up about 5 more quickly. this is the type of totally demoralizing goal that breaks a team and loses a game.

...have no answer on zidlicky's turnover and who he was covering behind the net with laperriere standing all alone in front.

...we play very hard as a team. not always well, but always hard, i'll give us that. the problem is actually pretty simply, we're just not quite talented enough to be consistently good every night. we have five or six true 20 something type goal scoring type forwards. and then we have about six or seven grinders who will score a few goals. a player that is a 20 odd goalscorer is a player that will go several games without scoring and be really streaky. that's why he's a 20 odd goalscorer to begin with. when you depend on only five or six people to carry you and they're all this level of player, well you're going to have stretches of 3 and 4 and 5 games where none of them are clicking. and when that happens you're going to tend to lose 4 of 5 or so.

...this is what is happening to us as a team. we'll get a couple of these guys going at the same time and win more than we lose. we'll have stretches where three of them are all going at the same time and go on short winning streaks. we'll even have stretches where 4 or 5 of them are playing well at the same time and we look unbeatable. when this happens, most fans begin to think we have "plenty" of offense and expectations rise above where they should be. unfortunately, the downside, is these guys are all 20-25 goal type guys. and there will be equally long stretches where none or only one of them is putting the puck in the net. and when that happens we'll lose.

enough for now. 14-13-2 with three straight back-to-backs coming. losing at home to a team that was 4-10 on the road hurts pretty badly tonight. maybe it'll look better in the morning. probably not, because i'm sure i'll glance at the standings.

oh well, now you need to go out and steal this loss back on the road saturday. get erat back and maybe we get enough to achieve critical mass offensively.

Pred303guy writes some of the most succinct and bright observations about each of the Predators games. His nickname is "The Professor" for his keen insights and recall of details from each game. He's also fair-minded. He loves the Predators, but he calls 'em like he sees 'em.

Hope you enjoy his regular contributions.

Previous Posts

• 12/10 - Preds v. Dead Things

• 12/8 - Preds v. the Quacks

• 12/6 - Preds v. Van-HOOVER

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