[PGT] Vancouver Canucks at New Jersey Devils | Feb. 28, 2022

[JM_]

1 minute ago, EddieVedder said:

Give them Boeser too.  

wut?

[EddieVedder]

37 minutes ago, Devron said:

I think he has been making the calls by the sounds of it. Hard to see Halak in net for a while. I bet Demko gets the next 8 starts. That’s when the next back to back is 

He should just fake an injury and go on ir. 

[EternalCanuckFan]

As good of a run as the Canucks have been on since Boudreau took over, the team is still too terribly inconsistent to be a genuine contender.  If they had not had the terrible start that they did then maybe they would be holding a playoff spot, but even then, this feels like a team that needs to be firing on all cylinders consistently for an extended period to even have a chance at being a contender (think St. Louis in 2019). 

 

As many have already observed, the team is competitive most nights primarily because of Demko, who is by far the team's most consistent player.  As far as other top skaters are concerned, Miller has been consistent throughout the season.  Hughes has been mostly consistent and Pettersson is finally starting to round into form with consistent performances of the type that he had become known for.  The depth has been a mixed bag with the 4th line (Motte, Lammikko and Highmore) being the most consistent.  The team can't win without the rest of the skaters showing up consistently.

 

When the Canucks win like they did against the Flames and the Rangers, they show glimpses of what they can do when they are firing on all cylinders.  They still have flaws in those games, but those games do make you think that maybe the team is closer than what critics might say.  At the end of the day however, lack of consistency has been a more intangible flaw with the team that has been hard to address, but it's been going on for so long that it's fair to wonder if the personnel as a whole can ever find the consistency needed to truly excel.  There has already been comments about the PK players having "bad habits" that will probably have to be addressed in the offseason which indicates to me that there may be more bad habits that need to be addressed.  Whether players will be given a chance to resolve those bad habits themselves, or management will start moving guys out, remains to be seen.

[73 Percent]

1 minute ago, EternalCanuckFan said:

As good of a run as the Canucks have been on since Boudreau took over, the team is still too terribly inconsistent to be a genuine contender.  If they had not had the terrible start that they did then maybe they would be holding a playoff spot, but even then, this feels like a team that needs to be firing on all cylinders consistently for an extended period to even have a chance at being a contender (think St. Louis in 2019). 

 

As many have already observed, the team is competitive most nights primarily because of Demko, who is by far the team's most consistent player.  As far as other top skaters are concerned, Miller has been consistent throughout the season.  Hughes has been mostly consistent and Pettersson is finally starting to round into form with consistent performances of the type that he had become known for.  The depth has been a mixed bag with the 4th line (Motte, Lammikko and Highmore) being the most consistent.  The team can't win without the rest of the skaters showing up consistently.

 

When the Canucks win like they did against the Flames and the Rangers, they show glimpses of what they can do when they are firing on all cylinders.  They still have flaws in those games, but those games do make you think that maybe the team is closer than what critics might say.  At the end of the day however, lack of consistency has been a more intangible flaw with the team that has been hard to address, but it's been going on for so long that it's fair to wonder if the personnel as a whole can ever find the consistency needed to truly excel.  There has already been comments about the PK players having "bad habits" that will probably have to be addressed in the offseason which indicates to me that there may be more bad habits that need to be addressed.  Whether players will be given a chance to resolve those bad habits themselves, or management will start moving guys out, remains to be seen.

No team wins 82 games in a row. The lightning got pumped by florida in December. The devils throttled the Penguins last week. We put up a touchdown on the flames. Are those teams not contenders? I'd like to know what team you call consistent. The only thing that I see that's not consistent is our goaltending between Halak and every other goalie we have. 

[wai_lai416]

3 hours ago, Law of Goalies said:

You keep on saying the goalie's poor performance will affect the team's morale and confidence. This I agree but haven't you thought it the other way. The fact that they usually dont give run support, doesn't it give the goalie added pressure to make sure he makes that save. It works both ways buddy. I'm sure he lost his confidence and is anxious every time he starts because he has to be "perfect" but because he aint Demko level.

 

The most frustrating thing with reading the comments from some of the posters here is Canucks 73_3 is not saying it isnt Halak fault but he is saying everyone on the team is at fault and is mad that almost everyone is solely placing the blame on Halak (including you). 

 

Everyone played poorly, heck, even bruce made bad decisions such as when to hook Halak and playing petey with the two coldest players on the team. So it should be everyone is at fault, not ONLY Halak. 

Whenever halak starts its all his fault if the team loses. Even if he gives up 2 goals or less its still his fault coz he couldn't shut out the other team. Whenever demko have a bad game it's the team's fault. Halak shares the biggest blame for some of the recent starts, but nah its all his fault coz the team starts out flat every game and have to rely on their goalie to stand on his head to bail them out until they get their legs behind them every game. Would be nice to get a timely save here and there.. but maybe there's just something wrong with this team in general with backup goalies? Halak struggling this year.. holtby struggling last year.. demko goals against is over 3 the year before that as the backup

[Gurn]

2 hours ago, You Mad Bro? said:

What I got from the PGT. Canuck73_3 loves Halak and the rest of us don’t lol. 

What I got was- there is no point blaming your back up goalie when the whole team starts very poorly-again.

 

IIRc those bad starts were supposed to go away.

All those posts/ers "Green doesn't/can't/won't get them ready to play-WHAT A LOUSY COACH"

 

Well the team still starts way too many games poorly- So is BB a lousy coach?

 

So tired of this teams lip service towards their effort.

"Oh wake up call"

"WE need to be better"

"CAn't starts like that"

 

and yet they are still asleep at the start for way too many games.

 

 

 

[Putgolzin]

45 minutes ago, Devron said:

I think he has been making the calls by the sounds of it. Hard to see Halak in net for a while. I bet Demko gets the next 8 starts. That’s when the next back to back is 

That pretty much takes us up to trade deadline.

If we pull another unlikely 8-0-1 streak we should be well into consideration. Though Demko could potentially just shut the door entirely, it's not outside the realm of possibility.

If we plop along at about .500 I expect we'll see some trades.

Both paths could be good for the long term future of the club I guess.

[lmm]

12 hours ago, Devron said:

Going to make it real simple for you guys because this will be the defence vs Halak thread. 

Halak was awful and our first period was awful. It spiralled. Demko should have started this game. At the end of the day our next game is Thursday and Demko should have started this game.

 

Regarless of your point of view of the team. Demko is the key to our success 

so true

[Gawdzukes]

57 minutes ago, JM_ said:

I wonder what AZ would want to take him off our hands?

lol, does it really matter? we suck and we're stuck with Halak unless he walks away, no one in their right mind will want him

 

as bad as halak was Myers and OEL were just as bad and the rest of the team we're right there behind them. 

 

even Bruce is out of ideas it seems,

 

trade ... some people haha

Edited March 1, 2022 by Gawdzukes

[EOTM]

4 hours ago, spook007 said:

Even with Demko in goal yesterday, we likely lose that game...

 

I'm not a Halak fan, and haven't been since his first few showings, but yesterday was a collective mis mash, and not to be blamed on the goalie alone... Brain farts and defensive lapses by our top pairing D on the first 3 goals were as much to blame as anything...

 

I'm not disagreeing with you on that but I doubt the result would have been the same. Just taking last night into account with Demko in net that game was 1-1. Did the team play that much better in the second half? I didn't think so.

 

Taking the season into account we don't have a capable back up goalie on this roster. It's tough to play when you know that the guy between the pipes isn't going to do the job and we can't blame the majority of his starts on bad D. Granted it's usually the second game of a back to back but that's not a sufficient excuse in my eyes.

 

TL/DR not to be blamed on the goalie alone but a large portion of the blame should go to Halak especially seeing what the score was while Demko was in net.

[JM_]

7 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

lol, does it really matter? we suck and we're stuck with Halak unless he walks away, no one in their right mind will want him

 

as bad as halak was Myers and OEL were just as bad and the rest of the team we're right there behind them. 

 

even Bruce is out of ideas it seems,

 

trade ... some people haha

um, no we don't suck. 

[Nucker 67]

It's a reality check. The Canucks aren't good enough. Demko creates an illusion that VAN is a playoff team. Without him though, they're not good.

 

Miller gets a lot of love, but he gets frustrated and disappears when the team faces adversity.  I think it's time to clean house. I look at teams like ANA, NJ, DET and all of their good prospects and young players. Canucks are going to be left behind again. Who do they got developing? Focht?   Canucks need more and better prospects and young players. 

[CanucksJay]

4 minutes ago, wai_lai416 said:

Whenever halak starts its all his fault if the team loses. Even if he gives up 2 goals or less its still his fault coz he couldn't shut out the other team. Whenever demko have a bad game it's the team's fault. Halak shares the biggest blame for some of the recent starts, but nah its all his fault coz the team starts out flat every game and have to rely on their goalie to stand on his head to bail them out until they get their legs behind them every game. Would be nice to get a timely save here and there.. but maybe there's just something wrong with this team in general with backup goalies? Halak struggling this year.. holtby struggling last year.. demko goals against is over 3 the year before that as the backup

No

I only really blame him for the last 2 starts where his save percentage was in the 50s.

 

What sucks is that they were against teams we should beat on paper while we are in a fight to make the playoffs. 

Thats potentially 4 pts blown which could be the reason we miss the playoffs. 

 

Sure the team also sucked in front of him but not. 571 save percentage bad... 

 

I get it, team is used to bailouts from Demko before they start moving their feet which is a problem. But at the same time, Halak's recent play does not instill any confidence for the players. He plays small and deep in the net...  

 

First goal by Hughes should have been a save. Halak loooked frustrated when it went in. Canucks are then already behind rhe 8 ball. 

2nd goal was ridiculous. I hang it on the forwards who left the zone early. 

Would have been a tough save even for Demko. 

3rd goal, Halak was already swimming before the pass across. He was literally facing the initial shooter on his knees... 

 

 

BB nailed it when he said that the 4th goal was the back breaker. 

Again deep in his net... In fact, inside his net. Should have been a save. 

 

I think up until the 4th goal, Halak made 1 save that was a good scoring chance. The remainder all went in. 

 

Anyway, you can't win in this league when spotting the opposition 3 goals. 

What happens is, the playera then start cheating to create offense and then get burned... 

 

I absolutely put this loss on Halak. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CanucksJay]

4 minutes ago, EOTM said:

I'm not disagreeing with you on that but I doubt the result would have been the same. Just taking last night into account with Demko in net that game was 1-1. Did the team play that much better in the second half? I didn't think so.

 

Taking the season into account we don't have a capable back up goalie on this roster. It's tough to play when you know that the guy between the pipes isn't going to do the job and we can't blame the majority of his starts on bad D. Granted it's usually the second game of a back to back but that's not a sufficient excuse in my eyes.

 

TL/DR not to be blamed on the goalie alone but a large portion of the blame should go to Halak especially seeing what the score was while Demko was in net.

Id go further and say we would have won with Demko in net. 

We got away from our game because we were chasing after being down early. 

If we werent down and out early, who knows how we would have responded in the 2nd and 3rd?

 

BB even said that the locker room talk was to win the 2nd and who knows what happens in the 3rd. He commented theyve come back before and devils have given up some leads so there was confidence. 

He then commented that after getting the 3-1 goal, he felt like we were starting to go and then that 4th goal was the backbreaker. 

That's pretty much calling out Halak...

[lmm]

If you look at the last 3 games

Calgary - all the big boys come out to play

NYR - Horvat -2 no Garland or Boeser, but a mix of stars and secondary scoring

NJD - the defense came out bad, OEL gift on the first with Myers not playing the 2 or 1 well

Myers gift on the second,

Canucks outshot the Devils but no traffic in front of the 6th string goalie

Schenn takes a penalty and Hughes get beat on the goal

Schenn -3

but on a positive note, the much maligned Brad Hunt and Hamonic + Pearson are +1

Still no Beoser, Garland, PP had one chance to make a difference and failed

And I agree, Halak should have either not started or been pulled after the 4th goal

 

Halak and Hoglander should take a trip to Abbotsford

[Gurn]

Think of this- the coach called the fourth goal the back breaker.

As in the 4rth goal was a tough one.

But the previous 3 were deemed acceptable goalie play.

 

So the first 3 are on the team and the 4rth is on Halak.

How many goals did the Canucks score again?

[lmm]

15 minutes ago, Muttley said:

Maybe Holtby and even more so Halak are simply set in their somewhat old school ways making it increasingly difficult for Ian Clark to help them much.  About the best he can hope for with Halak, is to keep his own style sharper.  That was terrible last night though. Backing in to his own net. Just looked ridiculous.  

Not to start any arguments but a few prominent skaters looked almost as bad. 

early in the game even before the goals came, Halak had a really awkward Knee Shuffle going on

and ya the D sucked and the Fs played low impact / high shot - no traffic offense

[Hairy Kneel]

53 minutes ago, EternalCanuckFan said:

As good of a run as the Canucks have been on since Boudreau took over, the team is still too terribly inconsistent to be a genuine contender.  If they had not had the terrible start that they did then maybe they would be holding a playoff spot, but even then, this feels like a team that needs to be firing on all cylinders consistently for an extended period to even have a chance at being a contender (think St. Louis in 2019). 

 

As many have already observed, the team is competitive most nights primarily because of Demko, who is by far the team's most consistent player.  As far as other top skaters are concerned, Miller has been consistent throughout the season.  Hughes has been mostly consistent and Pettersson is finally starting to round into form with consistent performances of the type that he had become known for.  The depth has been a mixed bag with the 4th line (Motte, Lammikko and Highmore) being the most consistent.  The team can't win without the rest of the skaters showing up consistently.

 

When the Canucks win like they did against the Flames and the Rangers, they show glimpses of what they can do when they are firing on all cylinders.  They still have flaws in those games, but those games do make you think that maybe the team is closer than what critics might say.  At the end of the day however, lack of consistency has been a more intangible flaw with the team that has been hard to address, but it's been going on for so long that it's fair to wonder if the personnel as a whole can ever find the consistency needed to truly excel.  There has already been comments about the PK players having "bad habits" that will probably have to be addressed in the offseason which indicates to me that there may be more bad habits that need to be addressed.  Whether players will be given a chance to resolve those bad habits themselves, or management will start moving guys out, remains to be seen.

NJ has big defenseman 

We don't 

They control their zone and it gives more room for their forwards to free Lance. 

Hunt getting molested behind Halak was just laughable. 

[CanucksJay]

37 minutes ago, gurn said:

What I got was- there is no point blaming your back up goalie when the whole team starts very poorly-again.

 

IIRc those bad starts were supposed to go away.

All those posts/ers "Green doesn't/can't/won't get them ready to play-WHAT A LOUSY COACH"

 

Well the team still starts way too many games poorly- So is BB a lousy coach?

 

So tired of this teams lip service towards their effort.

"Oh wake up call"

"WE need to be better"

"CAn't starts like that"

 

and yet they are still asleep at the start for way too many games.

 

 

 

If you listen to BB's postgame, I have way more respect for him than TG. 

BB was direct. He went through morning meeting, evening meeting talking about what was at stake, full pre game coverage and still guys looked not ready to go and BB was clearly frustrated. I never got that sense from TG. He gave the other team credit. TG might be such a player's coach that he might have done all those things BB mentioned but didnt say it post game and shielded the team. Instead of responding for their coach, they continued to not put forth their best effort and now its become a habit. 

Itll be interesting to see what happens at the TDL. 

I believe the skill level is there but I question the character of many players on this team. 

I want a BB style team. 

No woe is me. 

Frustrated when losing game

 

Too many of our players have TG attitude "thats a good team over there" 

 

Its time they expect more from themselves. 

If they don't have that hunger to win, ship them out and get more BB guys. 

 

[Gawdzukes]

39 minutes ago, wai_lai416 said:

Whenever halak starts its all his fault if the team loses. Even if he gives up 2 goals or less its still his fault coz he couldn't shut out the other team. Whenever demko have a bad game it's the team's fault. Halak shares the biggest blame for some of the recent starts, but nah its all his fault coz the team starts out flat every game and have to rely on their goalie to stand on his head to bail them out until they get their legs behind them every game. Would be nice to get a timely save here and there.. but maybe there's just something wrong with this team in general with backup goalies? Halak struggling this year.. holtby struggling last year.. demko goals against is over 3 the year before that as the backup

 

38 minutes ago, gurn said:

What I got was- there is no point blaming your back up goalie when the whole team starts very poorly-again.

 

IIRc those bad starts were supposed to go away.

All those posts/ers "Green doesn't/can't/won't get them ready to play-WHAT A LOUSY COACH"

 

Well the team still starts way too many games poorly- So is BB a lousy coach?

 

So tired of this teams lip service towards their effort.

"Oh wake up call"

"WE need to be better"

"CAn't starts like that"

 

and yet they are still asleep at the start for way too many games.

 

 

 

You know this place and team are hilarious actually.

 

Number 1 it's GREEN's fault, it's also JB's fault, it's Halak's fault, it's Covid's fault, it's Green's fault still, it's Chiasson's fault, it's Hamonic's fault, it's the US Border's fault, it's Aquilini's fault, it's Dr. Bonnie's fault, it's Petan's fault, it's Bettman's fault, it's the Leaf's fault, it's Alf's fault, it's Hunt's fault, and it's Green's fault again.

 

It's everyone else's fault except the players that play the games and keep playing like crap. For crying out loud take a look in the mirror and own up for once!