Some then told me that the preseason means absolutely nothing. Lundy doesn't look sharp at all and they're still adapting to the system. Not to mention with Callahan and Hags out of the lineup they're thin up front. 0-1 after a road game certainly isn't a time to panic but they need to play better. I pin a lot of it on Lundy as he has to be much sharper because there's going to be some holes until this team is completely adapted to the system. Lets face it he cannot be giving up power play goals from 35 feet out when there's nobody even in front of him.
They looked almost as bad last night as they did in the preseason. Its alarming but they are missing some key players AND mostly they are learning a new system. I dont think we have enough scoring on the wing for this team but they will be a better team in a month. Get thru this tough road trip at 5-5 and I will be very very happy. The team will be better in November than October for a variety of reasons. I think AV is the type of coach that has a system the players will adapt to and the style of play will get better. I am concerned about not having a QB on the PP AGAIN and just not having enough guys that can score 20+ goals
I am with you Mess. I said the same thing. It is one game, so nothing crazy, but this team was terrible in pre-season, and last night was much of the same. There are some issues here that need to be worked out. We'll see if that happens.
5-5? At this point I would take 3-6...LOL. 2-7 is possible. Getting Cally back on Monday, and hopefully Pyatt out, will be a help. Let's see how they play with him back.
yeah Chuck not good. I also wish we had a guy on the 2nd/3rd line who was physically intimidating AND could score 20 goals. Those guys are very hard to find though. They looked pretty good in the 1st last night with nothing to show for it other than being behind 1-0. Getting Cally back is a start
even if we start 2-7, it's a very long season with plenty of time left and 9 more home games than away. Hardly a big hole.
When is Lundy going to find his game? They need him to be solid to start the season. We cannot wait five games for him to round into form. The goal to make it 3-1 was a killer that he cannot allow. He was too far back in the crease, not set and it appears he didn't really see it.
For sure, plenty of time. But we do have some issues and cause for concern. Hopefully we can get things straightened out.
There are certainly issues. Cally and Hags coming back will obviously help, but as i said all offseason, this team needs more firepower. I know a lot of people were content with the state of the team, but i always felt, and still do, that we're not deep offensively and lack another top offensive weapon other teams have to worry about outside Nash. Season's very young and have plenty of time to get better, and will, as well as the opportunity to make trades to strengthen the team.
No fuckin' excuses for this organization! One game and all I saw were Rangers standing around in their zone as Phoenix played pass-the-puck for the scoring shot. Sather was so wrong about Richards. He's got to go, along with Boyle, Pyatt. There is no movement with this team. Sounds familiar. I am still looking at last year's disaster of a team. Way to go, Sather.
As Lundy has gotten older, it seems he has a hard time finding the puck the first 5 to 8 games of the regular season, then he catches fire for pretty much the entire year. Hard to explain.
It's just hard to deal with that with all these tough road games to start the season. We shall see what happens in the next one.
I don't know if they have the footspeed as a team to avoid giving up alot of shots or creating open space for their own. Every other team seems to always have no problem getting open in the middle of the ice for point blank shots. If AV wants to deal with VAN I'd try and get Hamhuis or Garrison, they need another quick dman who can basically roam and make plays jumping in. Garrison has a great shot from way out. I just don't trust DZ to do it instincitvely enough.
Wow one game in and already the klaxons are sounding, no need to race to prove who knew the Rangers would suck first, need a larger sample for analysis. The NHL should follow the NFL's lead and start reviewing goals, the second Coyote goal was clearly a result of goaltender interference, the ref said he didn't call it because Lundy was out of the crease, replay would have educated his blind ass. I thought that was a major turning point in the game coupled with the Hobbit's shot just missing which was a recurring theme last night. There were too many scoring opportunities that finished with errant inaccurate shots. The PP goal was sweet, Torts PP couldn't even gain the offensive zone let alone move the puck. I think they will only get better with AV. Kreider should be on this team, would even give Allen or McIlrath a chance over Stralman to address the lack of physicality.
one thing for certain is this team has to be tight defensively. there is a lot of scoring in this league, if we give up 3 or more goals we will not win many games. you will get a pretty good indication in the first 10 - 12 games if we can play an attack style game or whether we have to go back to a defense first mentality.last nights game was poor because we attacked but shot poorly and with a loose defense we got burned. We get chances but didn,t finish, which was a constant theme last year
I felt the lines would be Kreider-Stepan-Nash Hagelin-Brassard-Cally Now maybe it will be Pouliot-Stepan-Nash Fast-Brassard-Cally
