How Were They "Out of Gas"?

[Mad Dog]

Jagr is out of gas,well who wasn't?

Not to switch the topic of this thread, but this whole out of gas thing is a mistery to me. They had an entire week off, while the Devils just finished off the grueling, 7-game beat-down with Florida. I agree they *looked* out of gas, but I really don't understand why. Injured - maybe. But tired?

Edited May 15, 2012 by Mad Dog

[Bakanekimiwa]

Not to switch the topic of this thread, but this whole out of gas thing is a mistery to me. They had an entire week off, while the Devils just finished off the grueling, 7-game beat-down with Florida. I agree they *looked* out of gas, but I really don't understand why. Injured - maybe. But tired?

amen mad dog. i also don't understand where this idea comes from. it's like vogue every playoff season where we exit early. 'they were out of gas'. 'they didn't have enough left in the tank'.

how about, we were just plain bested. beat. owned? that will make any player look 'tired' and gassed. they were not low on gas in this series. they just weren't playing the right style of hockey to counter jersey's cycle.

overall, i'm more disappointed in lavy than the players. he made no adjustments. just look at how the rangers play jersey. they boxed them out of the slot. you didn't hear one thing about jersey's cycle last night.

[radoran]

I split this off from the Jagr thread.

I would like to point out why a good deal of the team might have looked as if they hadn't played 82+ games in a season before - they hand't played 82+ games in a season.

Read, Couturier, Schenn - all playing more than they ever had. It was nice that Couturier got to play a lot of minutes as a rookie, in all situations. And it showed by the end (IMO).

Jagr hadn't played this much in three years.

That's four starters. And important scoring parts of all your depth.

By comparison, Wellwood played 73 games in the AHL last year (3 in the NHL) and just 57 this regular season. That's where his jump was coming from (IMO).

Simmonds and Voracek haven't been this far into the playoffs, and certainly not with the expectations they had. I liked the play of both, hoped for more from Simmonds (saw at least two empty netters missed) and expect both to contribute more. Simmonds played an average of 2 and a half minutes more per game this year (200 more TOI minutes over 82 games).

Timonen was supposed to get reduced minutes with Pronger on board. Instead, he was down just 1m14s over last year and his TOI went up down the stretch.

Giroux was "the man" for the first time. There just aren't a lot of guys - even can't-miss Crosby-types - who win in their first time as "the man."

Not excuses. Observations.

[mojo1917]

overall, i'm more disappointed in lavy than the players. he made no adjustments. just look at how the rangers play jersey. they boxed them out of the slot. you didn't hear one thing about jersey's cycle last night.

i think gazoo posted this elsewhere but it bears repeating in regard to this statement. what was lavy to do ? I mean really, the team played well all year playing the uptempo puck possession game, so NJ had an answer for it, what are they to do, start trying to play a completely different style ? start trapping ? maybe talbot should have drawn some plays on the bench like primeau did the year they quit on coach barber, and (vice versa). outcome would have been the same only more embarrassing.

when a team goes from winning nearly every one on one battle to nearly none, when they quit watching the puck to their blade on choppy ice, and keep jailbreaking up the ice on 50/50 pucks when you haven't won a one on one battle, there's only so much changing the "system " is going to do...and what's the coach going to do to a team that's losing like that. bag skate 'em ?

the penguins series was tough, they put a lot of emotional capital into it as well as physical exertion, look at the hits guys took in that series, the week off hurt because the adrenaline ceased to flow, and then everyone was sore and injured. there was "nothing in the tank" because they used the fuel to beat a good penguins team.

when i see stuff like this it makes me think that people have forgotten what it is really like to be competitive athlete, or a self inflated memory of their effort/ability I know i remember my competitive past differently than my teammates and opponents. sometimes i was better than i remember and sometimes i wasn't close to being as good as i thought i was

Edited May 16, 2012 by mojo1917

[Mad Dog]

I split this off from the Jagr thread.

I would like to point out why a good deal of the team might have looked as if they hadn't played 82+ games in a season before - they hand't played 82+ games in a season.

Read, Couturier, Schenn - all playing more than they ever had. It was nice that Couturier got to play a lot of minutes as a rookie, in all situations. And it showed by the end (IMO).

Jagr hadn't played this much in three years.

That's four starters. And important scoring parts of all your depth.

By comparison, Wellwood played 73 games in the AHL last year (3 in the NHL) and just 57 this regular season. That's where his jump was coming from (IMO).

Simmonds and Voracek haven't been this far into the playoffs, and certainly not with the expectations they had. I liked the play of both, hoped for more from Simmonds (saw at least two empty netters missed) and expect both to contribute more. Simmonds played an average of 2 and a half minutes more per game this year (200 more TOI minutes over 82 games).

Timonen was supposed to get reduced minutes with Pronger on board. Instead, he was down just 1m14s over last year and his TOI went up down the stretch.

Giroux was "the man" for the first time. There just aren't a lot of guys - even can't-miss Crosby-types - who win in their first time as "the man."

Not excuses. Observations.

All that makes sense... But still, with one full week, I would think they should've gotten the batteries recharged. I really think it's more what Baka said - Lavy's system just wears players down more than their own mileage.

[radoran]

All that makes sense... But still, with one full week, I would think they should've gotten the batteries recharged. I really think it's more what Baka said - Lavy's system just wears players down more than their own mileage.

That may certainly be a part of it, but there is also something to be said about keeping the adrenaline pumping and not losing an edge.

It can break both ways. Unfortunately, it seemed to break against the Flyers this season.

Again.

[Mad Dog]

Again.

You had to rub it in..... you guy you....

[fishbulb]

I don't think we can under-estimate the POUNDING this team took at times from the Penguins. It was said many times before the series... "whoever wins this series won't be very healthy"... well 7 days off was great, but a lot of those players took some serious punishment. IMO, there were just too many walking wounded.

Yes Joisey played a 7 gamer with little break.... but if you think they were pounded on like we were during the Pens series... you're crazy.

[Mad Dog]

Yes Joisey played a 7 gamer with little break.... but if you think they were pounded on like we were during the Pens series... you're crazy.

Point well taken, but I watched some of the Panthers-Devils games, and one can argue that the Devils took some punishment as well. We can relate better to the punishment the Flyers took because we watched every minute of every Pittburgh-Flyers game, but make no mistake, the Devils did not have it easy. Salvador, Elias, Parise, Zajac took some beating. Kovy was banged up. Sykora wasn't 100%... And they had what... 2 days to rest before they faced the Flyers.

You tough it out in the playoffs. That's what you do or you won't play much longer. Sorry, but I am not accepting that as a valid excuse.

[mojo1917]

And they had what... 2 days to rest before they faced the Flyers.

You tough it out in the playoffs. That's what you do or you won't play much longer. Sorry, but I am not accepting that as a valid excuse.

right, still had some adrenaline flowing, not having a bunch of days off to really feel sore.

not like you shouldn't have expectations for your team, but our guys were beat up pretty well by the douches in the first series, those guys skate hard and were about hurting our guys, there was no animosity in that FLA NJ series compared to the PGH PHI nothing remotely close.

i am curious about how many of our guys will need surgery, that hasn't come out yet to my knowledge, but at the end, i'll bet; 14 , 28, 19, 44, 21, 17, 8, all have some rehabbing to do. that's 5 top 9 forwards and 2 top 4 D. that's a lot of dudes trying to tough it out, sometimes the spirit can't make the body obey.

Edited May 16, 2012 by mojo1917

[Mad Dog]

@mojo1917

Yeah, I would be curious to hear who will need surgeries. My hunch - many.

I mean you guys are right, we took some serious beating. Malkin, particularly, was hitting people hard. I didn't even expect that from him... That series was very reminiscent of when we played Toronto in 2004. Toronto, led by Tucker, lost but did not go quietly. They physically destroyed the Flyers, and they had very little left when they had to face Tampa in the ECF.

Still, the Flyers were so utterly outmatched, outplayed and outcoached by the Devils (we could've easily gotten swept), that I suspect there is more than just injuries/tiredness.

[idahophilly]

Why Maddog? Sometimes the easiest explanation is the right explanation. Too long off for those nagging injuries to stiffin up, loss of momentum, walking wounded, ect, ect, ect...

I'm not saying it's not aggravating to us fans, but I suspect it's aggravating just a s much to the team...

[terp]

As I watched the Rangers/Devils game last night, it was very, very apparent that both of those teams are much stronger along the boards and better able to sustain a very high level of physical play than the Flyers. I'm not saying the Flyers aren't a physical team because they are, but these two teams are more so and I don't think was because the Flyers were "gassed". They became gassed because they couldn't match the Devils' physical play.

This might be partly because of youth and injuries, so I'm not prepared to say for sure that the Flyers need to do any major retooling. But they do need to look very soberly at the fact that they got whipped physically by the Devils and figure out what they need to do to make sure it doesn't happen next time. Maybe they just need to be healthier and more mature but it is also possible that they need to become more physical without sacrificing team speed and skill.

[idahophilly]

Fish, Rad, Mojo... If you are gonna try and talk sence and give a good commentary then just take it to silly.com...

[OccamsRazor]

Fish, Rad, Mojo... If you are gonna try and talk sence and give a good commentary then just take it to silly.com...

On a cheerier note...

Well i would expects also for the Phantoms to get a infusion of NEW talent.

Randford(LW) and Parks(RW) should be eligible i believe.

Noebels(RW) to replace underachieving Testwuide.

Hovinen, Philips, Heeter in net. Goodbye Leighton!

Cousins won't be eligible till 2013.

On the blueline is Luukko ready for the Phantoms?

Oliver Lauridsen back for 2nd season.

Hopefully Homer can uncover some new prospects.

Edited May 17, 2012 by OccamsRazor