Game vs. Philly:
- Definitely deserved to win the game if you look at chances created vs. chances given up. Of course you don't want to give up the lead late like that, but considering it was a back-to-back game and an East team, we can be somewhat satisfied with the loser point.

- I thought Lack was very good despite the weak goal late in the second period. Although the timing wasn't great, it really didn't feel like one of those back-breaking, momentum shifting goals.

- We gave up a few more chances than one would like, but we weren't terrible defensively. Hamhuis didn't really have his best game but played over 32 minutes. I thought Corrado was solid but played less than 8 minutes. Garrison really struggled on the power-play.

- Sedins easily had their best game in a while. However, they and everyone else really needed to bury more of their better opportunities. We had at least 4 "Grade A" chances in the first 10 minutes of the 3rd period alone. Then Kesler had 2 point-blank chances dead in the slot in overtime and shot into Mason's logo both times.

- Booth played well, had a few chances, but he also lacked finish. Kassian had a good game, as well.

- Sestito was flying out there against his former club. Weise is back to being a plug.



Sami Salo and Rick Bowness make their returns Wednesday night as the Lightning visit Rogers Arena. Salo is considered day-to-day still, I really hope he plays.

This post was edited by LuLer on Jan 1 2014 06:34am

Injury Update:
- Luongo is very close, wouldn't be surprised if he played on the weekend. Maybe Sunday in Anaheim.

- Seems like Burrows is also getting ready. Maybe not on the weekend, but perhaps next Tuesday or Friday.

- Edler has started skating on his own. No real ETA but I'm just going to guess Jan 13 against LA.

- Schroeder is out of his walking boot but he's likely still a couple weeks away.

- No update on Stanton, still on IR, likely more than a few weeks yet.

- Haven't heard anything on Alberts, I don't think they've stated whether he has a concussion or not. Still listed as day-to-day.

Game vs. Tampa:
- Pretty awful all around. Henrik and Torts both said it was our worst game of the season. I don't know if it was that bad, but definitely one of the worst. We looked like we did early in the season. Not really any positives at all, don't think anyone had a good game. The Bolts looked a lot more determined and hungry and the Canucks were just sloppy.

- Lack had and up and down game. Can't blame him 'cause he didn't have much help but he'd also want a few of the goals he let in back.

- I wish Torts would use Corrado a bit more, he only played about 4 minutes up until Tampa made it 4-2 with ~12 minutes left. He did, however, play 5 of those last 12 minutes.






*Hamhuis will thankfully be taken off the 1st unit power-play. Kesler will take his spot on the left-point (finally a right-handed shot there) and Higgins will take Kesler's spot in front of the net.

*Luongo says he's 100% healthy. I still think they should play him against Anaheim on Sunday. The Kings are an elite team, too, but the Ducks have more offensive firepower. Two huge divisional road games coming up!

This post was edited by LuLer on Jan 4 2014 03:47am

I am so terrified for this fucking road trip. I feel like we're slumping hard and we're about to get blown out in one of these next 2 or 3 games.

Torts ignored my advice Luongo starts tonight.

Game @ LAK:
- We were pretty good in the first 25 minutes but LA just took over after that. Luongo and the defense were under siege and we barely created anything offensively. Definitely not the type of "60 minute" effort you need to beat a team like the Kings.

- Luongo was great in his return. Looked calm and in control. 2 goals against on like 50 shots kind of tells the story.

- The power-play did some good things but looked awful at times. Hard to say if an improvement was made.

- Again, Corrado was used very sparingly. He played virtually mistake-free hockey the 6 minutes he was out there, really don't see why Torts is so afraid to use him.



~~~~~~~~

If you saw my thread, you'll know that I missed the Anaheim game ... first game I've missed in years. Can't remember the last time I did because I've had a PVR for so long, any game that I couldn't watch live I had recorded. Fell asleep just before the game started and woke up just after it ended.

But, from what I'm told, it was pretty much the same as the game in LA. Goalie didn't get much help, the skaters only played for about a period. Winless in 4 games now.

~~~~~~~~


Luongo out again for 1-2 weeks. Fortunately, if you can even use this as the silver lining, goaltending is the least of our worries right now.

This post was edited by LuLer on Jan 7 2014 02:14am

Can't fucking stand this team right now. No excuse for these losses

Constant OT/SO losses lol. Only positive is we're gaining points on every loss. Couldn't really have a better way to slump ... and these are important games

Seems everyone on Van just falls apart completely in the last few minutes of the period....

Game vs Pengwins
- Not our best defensive effort, but with the type of players PIT has, they're going to get their fair share of chances. I thought we played well enough to win, anyway, but a bad minute and a half at the end was enough to send the game into a shootout (and I don't think I need to explain what happened there).

- I thought Lack kind of looked awkward on a lot of his saves but he made many big ones, so I can't really fault him. I thought he should have had the 3rd goal but in the post-game he said he didn't see it at all. Kesler needs to block that or get out of the way.

- Hamhuis played big minutes against Malkin and Crosby but made two mistakes that led directly to goals. A bad turnover on the 1st and he tried to play goalie instead of just covering Crosby on the 4th. Tanev was solid yet again and it was nice to see Corrado get some more minutes.

- Forward group in general had a good game, 4 goals for this club is pretty amazing. Early on the Canucks got down 'cause they couldn't finish on their chances, but in the 2nd half that turned around we rattled off 4 straight. Kassian has looked solid for a few weeks now.

---------

5th straight loss, doesn't feel good men. It's nice that we got the loser point in 3 of them but getting 3 out of a possible 10 points obviously won't get the job done. Fortunately, we still have a small cushion 'cause of the awesome December.

---------

Some good news and some bad news...

The good is that Burrows and Edler are very, very close to returning. They both might be back for the next game.

The bad news is that our next 4 games are against the Blues, Kings, Ducks and Coyotes.

This post was edited by LuLer on Jan 9 2014 03:54pm