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2.25.2014

Coming out of the weekend

I was trying to figure out how to follow up last weekends headline of "IMO, not a good weekend for the Birds".  The best I came up with was to just drop the "IMO".
Otherwise, I could have just cut and pasted the entire article, and it would fit fine.

Except instead of picking up 4 out of 6 points, they got 1 out of 4.  People will tell me that Seattle lost 2 games by 2 goals, 1 of those being a shootout goal.  I will say in response to that, the numbers don't tell the story.

In both games, they let the opponent dictate the flow of play, and instead of fighting through that play, they just let it happen.

Friday night, Everett controlled play for the first 55 minutes.  They played a very good trap, and forced Seattle to dump the puck.  If you are forced to do that, you MUST have speed on the forecheck.  Instead, most of the time, Seattle had no forecheck at all.
Saturday night, Kamloops controlled play for the first 40 minutes.  Almost the same thing as Friday night, dump and chance, minus the chase part.
Seattle did cut down on the undisciplined penalties.  Only one Friday night (well, really two at the same time), and one Saturday night.

I see two common themes in all these games the last couple of weekends.

  • Little physical play.  Except for the first period Friday night, Seattle was not hitting like they need to.  Not finishing checks.
  • ZERO production from the 2nd line (whatever pairing that might be).  Seattle is down to one scoring line, with a number of veteran players that are counted on the score, not doing that.  I will not name who they are, but if you watch the games, easy to figure out.

There are two players in particular that I would personally sit for a game in the stands, but I highly doubt will happen.  One I think should be might just surprise you.

Since the Friday game was on Root, I will try to put up the stats I do tomorrow morning.

11 comments :

Anonymous said...

This month there could be several players that could watch from the stands. Maybe even the coaches should sit in the stands. They keep running the same Power Play unit that has done nothing. They put a young forward on e defence when they have some good defencemen that shoot the puck. It seems that he players are not on the same page right now and that comes from confidence. Coaches and build confidence and they can shatter it at the same time. Players have to get back to the simple parts of the game and finish a game with no regrets. If they don't then the regrets will last all summer. Best of luck T-Birds.

Anonymous said...

This month there could be several players that could watch from the stands. Maybe even the coaches should sit in the stands. They keep running the same Power Play unit that has done nothing. They put a young forward on e defence when they have some good defencemen that shoot the puck. It seems that he players are not on the same page right now and that comes from confidence. Coaches and build confidence and they can shatter it at the same time. Players have to get back to the simple parts of the game and finish a game with no regrets. If they don't then the regrets will last all summer. Best of luck T-Birds.

Anonymous said...

I find it humorous that the same coaches/players who had 7 and 8 game winning streaks and won 12/13 games from mid-January to mid-February are now the problem when the team stumbles a bit. Stuff happens over the course of the season. Meanwhile only 6 teams in the league have won more games then Seattle and based on their rosters probably should have more wins then the T-birds. And the young forward isn't on defense on the PP. He's out there for offense. Lots of teams do it.

Anonymous said...

Dump the puck into the corner and chase hockey. Good luck with that in the playoff's

Anonymous said...

You realize most teams in this league employ a dump and chase brand. The key is to dump and get to the puck first with speed and forechecking. When Seattle is winning that is exactly what they do, especially against the better teams. Like Jon wrote, for that to be effective you have to hit and play physical, something they didn't do this past weekend.

Anonymous said...

The coaching staff looks lost when it comes to lines on this team, we change every period and every game. Other teams have their lines set months ago yet we are still juggling 2 weeks before playoffs. Coach K walks up and down the bench wondering who to put out next. Get back to the lines that were effective before Christmas break. We had 2 offensive lines, the 3rd line was a great shut down line and the 4th line was logging some important minutes.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what a coach could possibly do different when dealing with a team as disappointing as this one. I'm not sure if a nagging injury may be to blame, but Lipsbergs has completely disappeared from productivity after a red-hot January. Same thing with Troock, just no steady production. Elliot has proven to be exactly what was predicted at the beginning of the year, which is basically a guy taking up a roster spot. Without any leadership from the vets, we are watching this season dissolve into a 'watch the rookies grow' situation, whereas before it felt like we could be competing for a championship. Bummer.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps all the moving of the lines is because the coaching staff is trying to get some of those guys jump started on offense, it has been a little stagnant lately. When your best hitter is struggling you don't pull him out of the game, you hit him in a different spot in the lineup.

Anonymous said...

Seriously? This team is disappointing? What team were you watching the previous 4 seasons if you label this one as disappointing? I don't recall anyone, anywhere thinking this was a team poised for a championship run. They're good, not great, but they are dangerous. Very rarely does a team come off 4 consecutive losing seasons and win a championship at any level. As for line juggling, they've had injuries throughout the season that have forced them to mix up the lines. When players return from injury lines get juggled again. The player who drives me nuts is Delnov. He'll go 5 or 6 games without the hint of a forecheck then he'll play a game where he forechecks like mad, then back to nothing again. Gotta drive the coaches bonkers but it's also another reason why you juggle lines.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Delnov. That kid is infuriating. You can see the talent but there's definitely a lack of work ethic, I think.

Anonymous said...

"I don't recall anyone, anywhere thinking this was a team poised for a championship run"??? Befor the Yak and Mack trade this team was playing well above 0.700 hockey and in the CHL top 10. After the trade some quotes "this puts us over the top", "we are all in", "built for a deep run" with 11 19 year olds Russ better hope this team figures it out and has a real deep run or he will return to being the GM everyone thought he was.

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