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[PGT] St. Louis Blues at Vancouver Canucks | Aug. 17, 2020 | Series tied 2-2

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-Vintage Canuck-

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Well, that was some big boy hockey last night. No need to panic though, just need to figure out how best use our assets to break the Blues game plan. There were some promising signs in the third period, how much of that was due to Travis tweaking the lines or just the Blues sitting back I'm not sure. I don't think it's the Blues MO to sit back though so I'm leaning towards the former. The key to the remaining games will be breaking the Blues cycle in our end, especially the ROR line. 

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Most of the games have been pretty even, last night was decidedly not. Had a couple of the posts St. Louis hit gone in, it could have been much worse.

 

Hopefully next game the boys adjust, and are able to punch through. It’s gonna be tough, and I think Markstrom will have to flat-out steal us a game to win the series.

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manhandled and bit**-slapped. 

 

I think back to that video of Bo strutting down the hallway (after his two big games), past the Blues players. Ahh, those were some good times.

Momentum is the key, and STL grabbed it in Game 3 and haven't looked back.

 

Really too bad they couldn't have gotten the record for Hughes. He certainly tried to generate offence and score.

 

I think the Jake experiment is over. Really, he's no Cam Neely and never will be. 

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I for one do not think Jake has played poorly 

 

to me, the issue is how he is being used. Jake is not a shutdown guy and therefore he is no use on the 3td or 4th line 

 

we drafted him as a potential power scoring forward but Green has never given him the chance instead trying to fit a square peg into a round hole 

 

can Jake be frustrating? Yes he can be but if we don’t give him the chance to play in a position that he can be successful we are not doing either side any favours 

 

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43 minutes ago, knucklehead91 said:

Our genius staff went from a team not expected to make the playoffs, to beating a very deep and experienced Minnesota team and going 2-0 to start the St Louis series who are the defending champs. Oh and we were on a 5 game win streak and our PP is one of the best in the playoffs right now. Last night St Louis figured out our PP. We will review it and make adjustments.

The issue is being capable and experienced as a staff to make those adjustments in n game and not go back to the drawing board 

 

I do not buy this theory that “nobody can expected this” that’s crap. That is Eastern based Leafs media. We have the roster to compete 

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2 hours ago, Timråfan said:

My solution is to put Loui on pp1, park him on front of the goalie wich free up space for the others, and take Horvat to PP2 so out second unit get some power. 

Loui is close to score in that position so use him there. 

Believe it or not agree with you 

 

we must have a bigger body in front that has the ability to create traffic 

 

whether that is Loui or Mac is debatable 

 

we simply must shoot and crash the net with traffic. Our perimeter pp is meningitis figured out, shooting lanes are sealed off 

 

will me make changes?

 

nope 

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I do hope fans see just how exposed our weak D zone play is being exploited 

 

compare what our puck movement looks like ( ex Hughes) to the blues. Very quick, crisp plates a full 5 man coverage with  backup 

 

we played poorly on our own end all year and Marky compensated for it 

 

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3 minutes ago, canuck2288 said:

The issue is being capable and experienced as a staff to make those adjustments in n game and not go back to the drawing board 

 

I do not buy this theory that “nobody can expected this” that’s crap. That is Eastern based Leafs media. We have the roster to compete 

Green did make the proper adjustments vs Minni. We were one bounce away from being up 3-0. Lets take a breath and see what the staff comes up with for Game 5.

 

But the reality is there is only so much the staff can do with this group, its not like you're going to really have many choices here but to mix up the top 6 in some way.

 

I'm torn on breaking up the lotto line but can also see why Green may try it. Or maybe the right thing is to switch Loui and Jake. Either way I think we see Jake move up to either Boesers or Loui's spot. 

 

Maybe Jake for Loui is the right tweak here, since they have zeroed in on Bo and Jake should be able to be far more physical than Loui. 

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12 minutes ago, canuck2288 said:

I for one do not think Jake has played poorly 

 

to me, the issue is how he is being used. Jake is not a shutdown guy and therefore he is no use on the 3td or 4th line 

 

we drafted him as a potential power scoring forward but Green has never given him the chance instead trying to fit a square peg into a round hole 

 

can Jake be frustrating? Yes he can be but if we don’t give him the chance to play in a position that he can be successful we are not doing either side any favours 

 

I don't know if you saw, but Jake was put with Bo and Pearson in the 3rd period. Didn't generate too much.

 

He's also been tried in the top 6 in the regular season. His best stretch was with him playing with Roussel and Gaudette where Gaudette could provide secondary scoring as well (maybe try this line again and bump MacEwen out and have Sutter on the 4th line?).

 

Virtanen himself has said he wants to be a sh*t disturbed which is effective in a shutdown type role. He hasn't shown any signs of this lately. Green is trying to develop a player that will have a longer lasting career, where he's responsible defensively if his offense isn't going. Perhaps Virtanen should take a page out of Blais' book.

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6 minutes ago, canuck2288 said:

I do hope fans see just how exposed our weak D zone play is being exploited 

 

compare what our puck movement looks like ( ex Hughes) to the blues. Very quick, crisp plates a full 5 man coverage with  backup 

 

we played poorly on our own end all year and Marky compensated for it 

 

Doesn't help losing Myers. People have crapped on him all year and now his worth is being shown with his absence. This will happen when you have like a 6/7 dman partnered in the top 4.

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This team lives and dies on the PP. I been saying all season that's not really a good recipe for success in the playoffs. 5 on 5 this team has largely been dominated. People can blame Virtanen all they want. But every line is getting torched 5 on 5. Honestly, we all kind of saw this coming. The plan was always to get to the playoffs and let the kids get a taste of playoff hockey. We are losing, but this is a learning moment for these kids. They get to see first hand what it takes to win from the defending Champs, and come next season will be better prepared. 

 

With that said, series isn't over. Best of 3 now. The team can still steal the series. But they need to be better 5 on 5. St Louis is making adjustments, can our coaching staff make adjustments or will we continue to try the same thing? Don't forget we have coaches that are new to NHL playoffs too.

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10 minutes ago, theo5789 said:

I don't know if you saw, but Jake was put with Bo and Pearson in the 3rd period. Didn't generate too much.

 

He's also been tried in the top 6 in the regular season. His best stretch was with him playing with Roussel and Gaudette where Gaudette could provide secondary scoring as well (maybe try this line again and bump MacEwen out and have Sutter on the 4th line?).

 

Virtanen himself has said he wants to be a sh*t disturbed which is effective in a shutdown type role. He hasn't shown any signs of this lately. Green is trying to develop a player that will have a longer lasting career, where he's responsible defensively if his offense isn't going. Perhaps Virtanen should take a page out of Blais' book.

the lotto line got most of the shift time in the 3rd, but Jake didn't look out of place there with Bo either. Its the 0/7 PP that really killed us, even with Sutherland being Sutherland.

 

If there is going to a change Jake for Loui is a pretty easy one to make. Jake doesn't have it in him to be a $&!# disturber, but he can go hard to the net if he wants to. 

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20 minutes ago, canuck2288 said:

I for one do not think Jake has played poorly 

 

to me, the issue is how he is being used. Jake is not a shutdown guy and therefore he is no use on the 3td or 4th line 

 

we drafted him as a potential power scoring forward but Green has never given him the chance instead trying to fit a square peg into a round hole 

 

can Jake be frustrating? Yes he can be but if we don’t give him the chance to play in a position that he can be successful we are not doing either side any favours 

 

Poorly? No. But he hasn't played well in any meaningful way either. He's been 'ok' in a third line (our third line isn't really a 'checking' line either FWIW) role.

 

You don't get a top 6 promotion by playing 'ok'. If he wants to be 'used' differently (top 6), he needs to show up and play like a difference maker that deserves that opportunity. Nothing would make his coaches happier (or his team mates... or the fans).

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I think collectively everyone needs to pull up their socks. 

Each player is capable of playing better and there is no need to make scapegoats. 

Starting from Horvat to the 6th dman. Everyone can play better.

 

I think the only ones that have played up to their potential the last 2 games is Hughes, Fantenburg and Benn. 

 

That's it. 

 

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