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talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
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NYI 1
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admittedly a decent game but I thought Isles lacked the necessary competitive fire to cinch it - mebbe next time ....

islanders have slipped a bit of late, maybe its getting to be the dog days, they'll have to find their
game, and get more intensity again.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
yeah jlm,(read your other post), if san jose had of lost to canucks, there would have been 'wigs in the green' after this
game tonight, would have been 4 in a row.


there were player meetings with the coach after yesterdays practice, and when desjardin was interviewed,
he talked about intensity, and that is his point of the meetings. as he said, doesn't matter if a
team is being beaten or are winning, that battle level And intensity must be high, he sent his point home,
as they were 'flat' against san jose, but definitely not tonight.
and the way i see it is this, this team isn't going to win a cup this year, the goal is to make the
playoffs, and all of these players are being watched like a hawk because next year many of them won't
be on the team if they play any more 'flat' games like they did against san jose, so they better think
about that each and every time they step on the ice.

teams are going into the dog days of the season right now, january and february are normally the time
when players find it the hardest to play their best, so it takes even more mental focus to mAke
yourself do it anyway, but it has to happen.
 
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JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Vernon, B.C.
yeah jlm,(read your other post), if san jose had of lost to canucks, there would have been 'wigs in the green' after this
game tonight, would have been 4 in a row.


there were player meetings with the coach after yesterdays practice, and when desjardin was interviewed,
he talked about intensity, and that is his point of the meetings. as he said, doesn't matter if a
team is being beaten or are winning, that battle level And intensity must be high, he sent his point home,
as they were 'flat' against san jose, but definitely not tonight.
and the way i see it is this, this team isn't going to win a cup this year, the goal is to make the
playoffs, and all of these players are being watched like a hawk because next year many of them won't
be on the team is they play any more 'flat' games like they did against san jose, so they better think
about that each and every time they step on the ice.

teams are going into the dog days of the season right now, january and february are normally the time
when players find it the hardest to play their best, so it takes even more mental focus to mAke
yourself do it anyway, but it has to happen.

Penguins may have been tuckered after the thrashing they gave Calgary last but still the thrashing the Canucks handed Pittsburgh tonight is pretty convincing.:) Since there are so many back to back games good teams will find a way to win at least some of those 2nd games.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
Penguins may have been tuckered after the thrashing they gave Calgary last but still the thrashing the Canucks handed Pittsburgh tonight is pretty convincing.:) Since there are so many back to back games good teams will find a way to win at least some of those 2nd games.

yeah, remember canucks 7 game 14 day road trip, and how exhausted they finally were in the last game,
well, i think if one goes thru pittsburgh's schedule there won't be a road trip that nearly
resembles that trip.
just checked - pittsburgh has one 5 game trip, acouple of 4 game trips, and the
rest are 3 or less.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
yeah, remember canucks 7 game 14 day road trip, and how exhausted they finally were in the last game,
well, i think if one goes thru pittsburgh's schedule there won't be a road trip that nearly
resembles that trip.

Yep, that trip started out good and ended up being a killer. I don't recall the final tally but I think they were pretty close to .500 for the entire trip.

Just checking back it looks like they had 3 wins and an O.T. loss.

Minnesota, Monday- that should tell if Willie's talking did any good. :)
 
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JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
Can Vancouver arrange to play Pittsburgh 82 times a year?

We might not be able to count on Pittsburgh playing like that 82 times a year:) However we do know now how the Canucks are capable of playing and if they can do that 60 times a year, no worries!
 

gopher

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 26, 2005
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Minnesota: Gopher State
watched the mid day NBC broadcast of Chicago > St Louis

enjoyed the highly enthused crowd as many Chi fans made it to StL to watch the match = the two cities have rivalries in several sports and their NHL rivalry is as good as it gets
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
i talked a while back about a few teams who i see as very good teams, were good last year, but this
year, for some reason, just couldn't get out of the starting gate quickly, and didn't seem to remember just how good they really are.
well minnesota is one of those teams, and now they have 5 wins in a row, and seem to suddenly
feel like their ole selves.
this team is full of top shelf individuals, and now their goalkeeping has come around, so beware.
they are comin.
player for player, they are heads and shoulders above the canucks, so today we will see just what
canucks are made of, they have a big hill to climb, starting with the goalie.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
Yep, Minnesota is one team the Canucks have had trouble with over the years and compared to the Canuck's normal play they do out play them big time. The big problem with the Canucks is what they normally do compared to what they can do - if they continue to play as they did last night, they'll keep well ahead of the Wild. Take a look at the Canuck's record from Oct. 26 - Nov. 11.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
Yep, Minnesota is one team the Canucks have had trouble with over the years and compared to the Canuck's normal play they do out play them big time. The big problem with the Canucks is what they normally do compared to what they can do - if they continue to play as they did last night, they'll keep well ahead of the Wild. Take a look at the Canuck's record from Oct. 26 - Nov. 11.

yes that is true, but the wild were not playing well then, they are now, and if the wild play the kind
of hockey they can, and now they see that eighth spot just up ahead, they can outplay most of the
top teams like anaheim etc. dubnik, their goalie is playing out of his mind right now, so As i said
much of the success starts with goalkeeping, so if dubnik runs out of wins, and can't perform like
he is right now, maybe they will muddle along again, we'll see.

doesn't matter what happened in november, now is now, if canucks play their best, not overachieve, and
if minny and l.a. play their best, canucks might be squeezed out, we'll see, will be interesting to
follow, i'm still waiting for l.a. to wake up, they did the other day against tampa bay.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
yes that is true, but the wild were not playing well then, they are now, and if the wild play the kind
of hockey they can, and now they see that eighth spot just up ahead, they can outplay most of the
top teams like anaheim etc. dubnik, their goalie is playing out of his mind right now, so As i said
much of the success starts with goalkeeping, so if dubnik runs out of wins, and can't perform like
he is right now, maybe they will muddle along again, we'll see.

doesn't matter what happened in november, now is now, if canucks play their best, not overachieve, and
if minny and l.a. play their best, canucks might be squeezed out, we'll see, will be interesting to
follow, i'm still waiting for l.a. to wake up, they did the other day against tampa bay.

Canucks and Wild going head to head might sort something out. Go Canucks go!
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
nice to see edmonton with a victory over new jersey, they looked pretty good tonight

l.a. defeated columbus for their 2nd win in a row.

arizona leading chicago right now in the 3rd, 2-1

minnesota showed canucks who is better tonight. they had to pull miller, but if one really watched
the game closely, one could 'easily' see the lack of team defense, allowing minnesota close in
point blank shots, including the first one by schroeder whoskated right in and tucked it up in
the close side.
the loss was not miller's fault, unless of course one thinks he has to cover for all the mistakes
that were made, he isn't a miracle worker.
on the power play, minnesota put out a set of very powerful players, passing very crisp and sharp.
player for player, this team is much better than canucks, and if their goalie is playing well,
they should win, not only Against canucks but against many teams they have lost to this season,
so it will be interesting to see them from here on, as they suddently have woken up and realized
that it is time to really play for keeps.

just watching san jose and calgary, first period.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
nice to see edmonton with a victory over new jersey, they looked pretty good tonight

l.a. defeated columbus for their 2nd win in a row.

arizona leading chicago right now in the 3rd, 2-1

minnesota showed canucks who is better tonight. they had to pull miller, but if one really watched
the game closely, one could 'easily' see the lack of team defense, allowing minnesota close in
point blank shots, including the first one by schroeder whoskated right in and tucked it up in
the close side.
the loss was not miller's fault, unless of course one thinks he has to cover for all the mistakes
that were made, he isn't a miracle worker.
on the power play, minnesota put out a set of very powerful players, passing very crisp and sharp.
player for player, this team is much better than canucks, and if their goalie is playing well,
they should win, not only Against canucks but against many teams they have lost to this season,
so it will be interesting to see them from here on, as they suddently have woken up and realized
that it is time to really play for keeps.

just watching san jose and calgary, first period.

Yep, Edmonton's win was one bright light on a pretty depressing night. I'm not too excited about L.A.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
chicago just played 5 minutes of OT against columbus, just waiting for 2 video reviews.

stay tuned, ok, now on to the shoot out, replays didn't solve anything.

phoenix won it in the shoot out.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
Argh! Was hoping the Jersey Devils would pull out the win but it just wasn't in the cards for them.

the oilers have lots of high end forwards, who can really burn a team on the offense, BUT they are taking
a long time to build the rest of the team, but they are coming slowly, have picked up a few wins lately,
and now have consistently good goalkeeping, i like this team a lot, and cheer for them to do well.
i would love to see them draft mcDavid, as he would join all of the allready good young forwards, And
this team will become lots of fun, with a bit more on defense.

Yep, Edmonton's win was one bright light on a pretty depressing night. I'm not too excited about L.A.

pittsburgh didn't play well the other night, and evenif they did, minnesota has much better team defense,
as well as high end forwards, so just because a team can blow another team out of the water one night,
has no bearing on them automatically beating the next team, these are all humans, not machines, and
each game brings out a different, or the same level of play, for everyone.
intensity and battle are what desjardin insists on every game, but he can't put high end talent where
it doesn't exist, and he can't turn a 33 year old into a 25 year old, time takes its toll, and tonight
the twins showed their age.

a neat piece in the paper about the last game, he said "tonight the twins looked 3 years younger, and bo
horvat looked 3 years older".
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calgary defeated san jose 4-1.
that again allows calgary to move ahead of canucks, and san jose is coming down the charts right now,
but they are a streaky team, similar to canucks, so one never knows whichway they will go.