GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Montreal Canadiens - 7:00pm ET - Wed, Mar 13, 2013

This weekend should be back to winning, but you never know I guess. They've been great at sticking to the system and that should provide positive results against those two teams.

So we've got the Sabres Saturday, Jets Sunday, and Isles Tuesday. I'm guessing we go Lehner/Bishop/Lehner in those games, but who knows?

All 3 teams are very beatable, but the Jets should be desperate, and we get them on the back end of a double-header. Of course, the Jets play Toronto on Saturday, so they'll be on the back end too.

Note that the Buffalo game on Saturday is a 3pm start, and the Jets game on Sunday is a 5pm start.

Its funny that here is a kid who stopped 42 of 45 shots (.933 SV%) and yet we are talking about a "softie". By the way, just reviewed the goals, and on the first one Wiercioch is way too soft on Eller, but where was the forward covering him? Daugavins was tied up with the guy behind the net and Eller just walked in untouched. Not sure if you can blame that one on Lehner. Pacioretty/Gallagher's goal was on the powerplay and it was basically a one-on-one. Could he have squeezed his legs together a little quicker? Perhaps, but tough to call that one soft. And the last one he had two guys standing right in front and he never saw the puck.

So which one was the softie? I guess Pacioretty/Gallagher?

Can't say much about the shootout. He got schooled. Or so I hope. That poke check was pretty weak, and clearly the wrong move. He is a big goalie and covers a lot of the net. If he doesn't fall for the dekes/shakes/shimmies the shooter will end up with nothing to shoot at. Just look big and stay with the shooter, not the puck -- that's basically what Price did on Alfie and Turris' attempts (ugh, no creativity with either one, there).

Silfverberg's was a thing of beauty. He's got Price's number. They should have had him sitting at center ice waiting for a bomb from Wiercioch the whole game.

wprager wrote:Its funny that here is a kid who stopped 42 of 45 shots (.933 SV%) and yet we are talking about a "softie". By the way, just reviewed the goals, and on the first one Wiercioch is way too soft on Eller, but where was the forward covering him? Daugavins was tied up with the guy behind the net and Eller just walked in untouched. Not sure if you can blame that one on Lehner. Pacioretty/Gallagher's goal was on the powerplay and it was basically a one-on-one. Could he have squeezed his legs together a little quicker? Perhaps, but tough to call that one soft. And the last one he had two guys standing right in front and he never saw the puck.

So which one was the softie? I guess Pacioretty/Gallagher?

Neither one was really "soft"...one would just want him to stop one of em, or one of the shootout goals. Can't really fault the kid at all: he battles and he does a good job. And he'll only get better.

SpezDispenser wrote:This weekend should be back to winning, but you never know I guess. They've been great at sticking to the system and that should provide positive results against those two teams.

No excuse to lose to the Jets on Sunday. They play at 7 against the Leafs on the Saturday night and have less than 24 hours rest to play the Sens while traveling. That game is so important.

wprager wrote:Its funny that here is a kid who stopped 42 of 45 shots (.933 SV%) and yet we are talking about a "softie". By the way, just reviewed the goals, and on the first one Wiercioch is way too soft on Eller, but where was the forward covering him? Daugavins was tied up with the guy behind the net and Eller just walked in untouched. Not sure if you can blame that one on Lehner. Pacioretty/Gallagher's goal was on the powerplay and it was basically a one-on-one. Could he have squeezed his legs together a little quicker? Perhaps, but tough to call that one soft. And the last one he had two guys standing right in front and he never saw the puck.

So which one was the softie? I guess Pacioretty/Gallagher?

Can't say much about the shootout. He got schooled. Or so I hope. That poke check was pretty weak, and clearly the wrong move. He is a big goalie and covers a lot of the net. If he doesn't fall for the dekes/shakes/shimmies the shooter will end up with nothing to shoot at. Just look big and stay with the shooter, not the puck -- that's basically what Price did on Alfie and Turris' attempts (ugh, no creativity with either one, there).

Silfverberg's was a thing of beauty. He's got Price's number. They should have had him sitting at center ice waiting for a bomb from Wiercioch the whole game.

It's basically why it's so hard for young goalies to becomes superstar goalies I think. Look at how long it took Price, relatively speaking, to become one of the best of the best. He used to give up weak goals all the time, then come back and completely rob guys later the same game. Then he went through a patch where he got pretty shaken by bad goals and I for one thought he was being badly over-hyped, then he put it all together and he's one of the premiere goalies in the league.

The same goes for Lehner IMO, he's amazingly good, no one in the entire league would dispute that, but he has a tendency to let in the odd soft one. Lately it's actually been about 1 a game - but then he comes back and kills it the rest of the way, completely shaking off the questionable goal. If he can continue to do that, soon he won't even be giving up the softies and he'll only be letting in the perfect shots, ie the Subban shot last night.

That's my opinion. I also thought it was cool that he was pissed at himself for the SO loss. He damn well shouldn't be after keeping the Sens in the game with 1000 penalties in the third alone, but he was - that's a competitive, agile, athletic beast we have in there - and he's all of 21. Amazing.

NEELY wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:This weekend should be back to winning, but you never know I guess. They've been great at sticking to the system and that should provide positive results against those two teams.

No excuse to lose to the Jets on Sunday. They play at 7 against the Leafs on the Saturday night and have less than 24 hours rest to play the Sens while traveling. That game is so important.

I hope we're ready this time, the last time I remember playing them was the first time we took Abby to a game - and it was dull as Dung.

Lehner was fantastic. I think the "soft goals" part comes from the MaxPac goal, Lehner seems to get beat 5-hold a lot but I really don't see it. He is really mentally tough, I don't see any signs of him falling apart.

And yes he got schooled in the shootout, but judging by his post game comments he knows it. I guess that will come with time, practice and experience. Lundqvist is one of the best at the shootout and he practices them to the point of obsession long after practice is officially over.

Lehner's post game interviews wwas very good. ONe of the best I've heard. 0 Clichés, sincere and well spoken

LeKing wrote:Lehner's post game interviews wwas very good. ONe of the best I've heard. 0 Clichés, sincere and well spoken

Loved it. So competitive, so not full of Dung.