Anyone see this beauty?

[SpikeDDS]

The jury is still out, but it looks like benching Andreas Athanasiou might have been a good thing.

 

Wait...this just in...

 

 

https://www.nhl.com/redwings/video/athanasious-spectacular-goal/t-277443710/c-48384703

 

Yup. It worked. That Scotty Bowman guy knew what he was doing, eh?

 

Glad we had Riley Sheahan warming up AA's spot on the bench at the beginning of the season! Otherwise we might have seen too much of THIS!

[hf101]

But next time an opponent will likely snuff out the middle.  

 

A beaut of a goal though against a team that appears to be still on their bye week.  One for the highlight reels for sure.

[yave1964]

Larkin won the fastest skater award at last seasons All Star game smashing the record along the way. What I would like to see would be a race between AA and Lark, my opinion is that AA would leave him in the dust.

[SpikeDDS]

12 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Larkin won the fastest skater award at last seasons All Star game smashing the record along the way. What I would like to see would be a race between AA and Lark, my opinion is that AA would leave him in the dust.

 

From what I have seen, I agree with you. Hard to tell without being side by side. 

[hf101]

I've decided that watching our favorite teams / (players) for us fans is a lot like playing golf... 

 

Watching one great play keeps us coming back for more even though most of the time the final score isn't what we were hoping for.

 

 

[notfondajane]

On 1/14/2017 at 11:50 PM, SpikeDDS said:

The jury is still out, but it looks like benching Andreas Athanasiou might have been a good thing.

 

Wait...this just in...

 

 

https://www.nhl.com/redwings/video/athanasious-spectacular-goal/t-277443710/c-48384703

 

Yup. It worked. That Scotty Bowman guy knew what he was doing, eh?

 

Glad we had Riley Sheahan warming up AA's spot on the bench at the beginning of the season! Otherwise we might have seen too much of THIS!

Fluery flat out sucks! That's all I could say about the goal!

[ruxpin]

1 minute ago, notfondajane said:

Fluery flat out sucks!

 

I have Murray in fantasy, so please keep writing your letters to management.  Lots of letters.  Change your name periodically. 

 

Thanks in advance.

[SpikeDDS]

1 minute ago, notfondajane said:

Fluery flat out sucks!

 

Oh come on, @notfondajane, give the kid some credit and be fair to the Flower--that was a top-shelf goal in the corner that most goalies would have missed. I'm not saying you are wrong about Fleury, but this isn't the example to use to show it. That is a goal scorer's goal.

[notfondajane]

2 minutes ago, SpikeDDS said:

 

Oh come on, @notfondajane, give the kid some credit and be fair to the Flower--that was a top-shelf goal in the corner that most goalies would have missed. I'm not saying you are wrong about Fleury, but this isn't the example to use to show it. That is a goal scorer's goal.

He should have been gone along time ago! I'm annoyed by some of the goals he gives up! Especially when I could call it 30 seconds before it happens!

[SpikeDDS]

1 minute ago, notfondajane said:

He should have been gone along time ago! I'm annoyed by some of the goals he gives up! Especially when I could call it 30 seconds before it happens!

 

Again, I'm not disagreeing with you in general about Fleury. But if you could have called this goal 30 seconds before it happened, you'd have to say you predicted a breakdown of the defense, as AA skated right through all 5 skaters before that shot. If anyone should get the blame for this one, it1's the D for allowing AA to remain on his skates. But the kid is quick, not just fast. When he gets going like this, he's tough to stop. He's done this kind of thing at every level he's played.

 

For the record--and you can check my posting history if you like to verify--I thought this kid earned a spot on the NHL roster during LAST season's preseason. But the media spotlight was so fixed on whether Larkin would be the first rookie in decades to make the opening day Red Wing roster, that he was overlooked, even though he out scored Larkin that preseason. The kid has got chops. This wasn't a fluke.

 

He's just got to learn to bring it every night, especially now that this will bring more attention to him by opposing D. Larkin has struggled in his sophomore season, because he is getting checked by the top D pairs now. I'm hoping that AA can take some of the priority off of Larkin and help get him past his sophomore slump.

 

I have said that Blashill needs to go, but I give him credit for benching AA to teach him to bring his game every night. Since he did that, the kid has been fantastic. Every game since. Now we just have to get some players around him to let him keep doing this.

[SpikeDDS]

22 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Larkin won the fastest skater award at last seasons All Star game smashing the record along the way. What I would like to see would be a race between AA and Lark, my opinion is that AA would leave him in the dust.

 

Thinking about this further, @yave1964, I still think he may be faster at top speed, but I think what makes him look faster is his quickness. His acceleration. And I think his hands are quicker, allowing his stick work to keep up when he is skating and juking at top speed. This is what guys like Helm only dream of doing, and as good as Larkin was in the first half of last season, he never did  anything like this that I can recall.

 

But a race between Larkin and AA for fastest skater would be exciting and intriguing for sure!

 

Having said that, I would still like to see the league make them try to do it from a standing start. Larkin had the manufactured advantage of a running start that allowed him--despite a stumble, remember--to beat the record. I'd like to see Larkin or AA (or both!) try to do it apples-to-apples.

[notfondajane]

13 hours ago, SpikeDDS said:

 

Again, I'm not disagreeing with you in general about Fleury. But if you could have called this goal 30 seconds before it happened, you'd have to say you predicted a breakdown of the defense, as AA skated right through all 5 skaters before that shot. If anyone should get the blame for this one, it1's the D for allowing AA to remain on his skates. But the kid is quick, not just fast. When he gets going like this, he's tough to stop. He's done this kind of thing at every level he's played.

 

For the record--and you can check my posting history if you like to verify--I thought this kid earned a spot on the NHL roster during LAST season's preseason. But the media spotlight was so fixed on whether Larkin would be the first rookie in decades to make the opening day Red Wing roster, that he was overlooked, even though he out scored Larkin that preseason. The kid has got chops. This wasn't a fluke.

 

He's just got to learn to bring it every night, especially now that this will bring more attention to him by opposing D. Larkin has struggled in his sophomore season, because he is getting checked by the top D pairs now. I'm hoping that AA can take some of the priority off of Larkin and help get him past his sophomore slump.

 

I have said that Blashill needs to go, but I give him credit for benching AA to teach him to bring his game every night. Since he did that, the kid has been fantastic. Every game since. Now we just have to get some players around him to let him keep doing this.

I'm not taking anything away from AA but fluery is not a top tier netminder never was! Should he do that against a better netminder then I credit for a nice goal scored! It was a nice play to get there!

[notfondajane]

13 hours ago, SpikeDDS said:

 

Again, I'm not disagreeing with you in general about Fleury. But if you could have called this goal 30 seconds before it happened, you'd have to say you predicted a breakdown of the defense, as AA skated right through all 5 skaters before that shot. If anyone should get the blame for this one, it1's the D for allowing AA to remain on his skates. But the kid is quick, not just fast. When he gets going like this, he's tough to stop. He's done this kind of thing at every level he's played.

 

For the record--and you can check my posting history if you like to verify--I thought this kid earned a spot on the NHL roster during LAST season's preseason. But the media spotlight was so fixed on whether Larkin would be the first rookie in decades to make the opening day Red Wing roster, that he was overlooked, even though he out scored Larkin that preseason. The kid has got chops. This wasn't a fluke.

 

He's just got to learn to bring it every night, especially now that this will bring more attention to him by opposing D. Larkin has struggled in his sophomore season, because he is getting checked by the top D pairs now. I'm hoping that AA can take some of the priority off of Larkin and help get him past his sophomore slump.

 

I have said that Blashill needs to go, but I give him credit for benching AA to teach him to bring his game every night. Since he did that, the kid has been fantastic. Every game since. Now we just have to get some players around him to let him keep doing this.

I'm not taking anything away from AA but fluery is not a top tier netminder, never was!

[SpikeDDS]

44 minutes ago, notfondajane said:

I'm not taking anything away from AA but fluery is not a top tier netminder never was! Should he do that against a better netminder then I credit for a nice goal scored! It was a nice play to get there!

 

Fair enough. I think he has had streaks of brilliance and stretches of dismality. Back in the day, he could be lights-out. It has been a long while since he did it consistently. Thus, you're right, except for the "never was" part.

 

Kinda like Chris Osgood, except not as consistent. Both had their streaks of brilliance or near-brilliance.

 

And as for that goal, even the best netminders would likely not stop that shot. It was just about dang perfect in location. I didn't really see an error by Fleury on the play. He has to stay back to respect AA's speed, since his D didn't hardly slow him down. I dunno. I think you are biased/cynical to a significant degree.

[notfondajane]

Murray is looking like Fluery tonight! I can't wait till the Pens trade fluery 

[SpikeDDS]

29 minutes ago, notfondajane said:

Murray is looking like Fluery tonight! I can't wait till the Pens trade fluery 

 

If I was a Pens fan, I would feel the same way you do. It's justified.

 

Having said that, I hope he gets injured so that you can't trade him and we are able to dump Howard and his contract! ;-D

[notfondajane]

Anybody is better than Fluery!

I skated off the Mr. Lebanon ice rink at 12:01 am on December 18 1977. I could still out play Fleury! (I  wasn't a great skater.)

[notfondajane]

12 hours ago, SpikeDDS said:

 

If I was a Pens fan, I would feel the same way you do. It's justified.

 

Having said that, I hope he gets injured so that you can't trade him and we are able to dump Howard and his contract! ;-D

I would trade Fleury for Howard straight up (you know that the Pens would be getting the better of the deal!) Lol

[notfondajane]

13 hours ago, SpikeDDS said:

 

Fair enough. I think he has had streaks of brilliance and stretches of dismality. Back in the day, he could be lights-out. It has been a long while since he did it consistently. Thus, you're right, except for the "never was" part.

 

Kinda like Chris Osgood, except not as consistent. Both had their streaks of brilliance or near-brilliance.

 

And as for that goal, even the best netminders would likely not stop that shot. It was just about dang perfect in location. I didn't really see an error by Fleury on the play. He has to stay back to respect AA's speed, since his D didn't hardly slow him down. I dunno. I think you are biased/cynical to a significant degree.

To me it seems like his glove hand is a little slow! Where AA shot the PUCK is where Fleury gives up the most of his goals (5 hole is a close second)

[notfondajane]

Anybody is better than Fluery!

I skated off the Mr. Lebanon ice rink at 12:01 am on December 18 1977. I could still out play Fleury! (I  wasn't a great skater.)

[SpikeDDS]

5 minutes ago, notfondajane said:

I would trade Fleury for Howard straight up (you know that the Pens would be getting the better of the deal!) Lol

 

If Coreau continues to improve, it might be possible, as Howard's cap hit for its term is our biggest problem that we can actually fix. (John Franzen's cap hit is worse, but there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.) The dumping of the cap hit may be somewhat valuable. But it also will depend on how Jimmy returns. He's apparently a new man this season, playing like he hasn't in years. One wonders, though, if it will last.

 

Kind of an enigma, that one. He's just been so pedestrian for so many years, with only small flashes of really solid splashed in here and there, and just when you think it's safe to pull the clothespin off of your nose, his play takes a dive.

 

See my sig line for further commentary.

[SpikeDDS]

5 minutes ago, notfondajane said:

To me it seems like his glove hand is a little slow! Where AA shot the PUCK is where Fleury gives up the most of his goals (5 hole is a close second)

 

I'm not gonna argue with that, but suffice it to say that on THAT shot, few gloves would be quick enough. The smart play, percentage-wise, is to do exactly what he did--lower the glove to force a great top-shelf shot that doesn't go over the net or clank off the crossbar. That's what Fleury did.

 

Reminds me of Dan Marino's comment on pass defense in football: There is no defense for the perfectly-placed pass. That can be true for a shot too to a significant degree.

[notfondajane]

3 minutes ago, SpikeDDS said:

 

I'm not gonna argue with that, but suffice it to say that on THAT shot, few gloves would be quick enough. The smart play, percentage-wise, is to do exactly what he did--lower the glove to force a great top-shelf shot that doesn't go over the net or clank off the crossbar. That's what Fleury did.

 

Reminds me of Dan Marino's comment on pass defense in football: There is no defense for the perfectly-placed pass. That can be true for a shot too to a significant degree.

Keep the glove up and the shot does what you say! It stays out of the net! Which is what Fleury is supposed to do!

[SpikeDDS]

10 minutes ago, notfondajane said:

Keep the glove up and the shot does what you say! It stays out of the net! Which is what Fleury is supposed to do!

See, I don't agree on that. On a shot like that from closer in, you DON'T want to have a gap between the glove and the pad. Odds are much greater that someone shooting from there will only be able to lift the puck just above the pad, under the arm. Rarely will they get it top-shelf like that without sending it over the top. The play is to take out the lower 3/4 of the net with the pad and stacked glove and make them beat you high. IF you have enough time to get fully set--which he really didn't have--if you react fast enough, the glove can come up from there for a high shot.

 

Also, if the player isn't coming with as much speed, you want to push out more from the goal to cut down the angle. However, with AA's stick skills and speed, you can't afford to leave open the potential for him to go around the back side of you for an easy tuck. Instead, you stay back and you rely on your D to eliminate him or to at least slow him down, which they didn't do either.

 

If AA is able to place that shot like he did, you take your helmet off to him and give him credit for a well-placed shot and move on, because there isn't much else you could have done that wouldn't have left you MORE vulnerble to a guy with his skill set coming with his speed.

 

You can fault Fleury in general, but I didn't see much fault on what he did on that shot. AA just beat him. It happens. Even to the best goalies. And I think your cynicism towards Fleury is keeping you from being honest about this shot. Fleury played the odds. It didn't work. Plain and simple.