Exactly.

Anyone see the beauty of a goal March made in the 3rd period last night? Pure poetry on ice. Too bad the B's gave away a goal with just seconds to go to tie it up.

Henry's overall stats are great but he seems to be streaky this year. Not like Rask who is steady and consistently sucks :0(

Number 2 played a heck of a game last night.
Nice goal on the penalty shot.
Flames were pretty lucky at the end and played a pretty good game to hang in there.
Johnny Hockey was outstanding.... First 4 point game in the NHL for him.

Ramo was incredible (except for one soft goal because he was out of position). Several highlight reel saves. He stole the game from the B's and rightfully deserved the win based on the way he played.

Saw it.... Too bad the rest of the team doesn't put the effort Brad does.

I think that they aren't lazy they just run out of talent.
Bergeron, Chara, Krejci, Seidenberg, McQuaid, Krug, Erikson are all 110 percenters

I have high hopes for Valtrano, Pasternak.

My biggest disappointment is Rask.

Marchand greets Vancouver with the first goal of the evening. You know how much they love him there...

I love him when he is playing against Van....SmileWavy

Apparently so does Brandon Prust. $5,000 worth of love.

Prust: $5K fine for spearing Marchand was ‘best money I ever spent’ (Video) | ProHockeyTalk

Here's what he's proud of:
http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2015/12/06/video-brandon-prust-ejected-for-spearing-brad-marchand-in-groin/

ya that spear was a cheap play but at least it was to a player who gives out his own share of cheap shots, would have been really bad if it was to a player who doesn't engage in that sort of goon mentality hockey.

Finn

Like Marc Savard?

Surely you're not condoning the spear. Two wrongs don't make a right.

What blows me away is his blatant honesty. I figure that comment is going to cost him a lot more the next time he gets a fine or suspension. The league will want to send a message.

Ooooh. Right in the mommy daddy button....

No one gets a spear to the cup for no reason at all but it was a pretty nasty foul.

The fine is about .002% of his salary. None of this stuff ends until the league hits these guys in the wallet.

Number 2 can now sing a soprano part just in time for Christmas...

BIG game tonight: Marchand versus Subban. The precursor to the Winter Classic.
Sure is a pity that Price won't be in goal. :D
It stinks that Rask has such poor stats against the Habs. I'd almost prefer Gustavsson to go in.

Hey Joe, as you are a knowledgeable hockey fan, indulge me in this hijack please. I was an old school stand up keeper. At times I'd use what is now called a modified butterfly ( one pad down one pad up) as I moved laterally. But generally I stood up with my stick closing the 5 hole.

We all see todays keepers plopping down to make saves, playing the percentages rather actually going after the puck and making the save. I watched a SO the other night. The forward came in very close and executed a perfect toe drag as the keeper flopped down. He easily lifted it up and over to get the winner. Why didn't the keeper poke check as he stacked the pads? How many times does the puck go through the 5 as the keeper is dropping down?

Man if the goalies stayed on theiir feet square to the shot, I swear half of the shots would just hit them.

My goalie coach told me once" sometimes making a great save is a matter of NOT getting out of the way".

What do you think o this flop and pray style of keeping?

I've never been a goalie but I have some observations:
-Patrick Roy brought in the era of the butterfly. It worked well for him and everyone else started to adapt.
-In tight, its hard to lift the puck and there's going to be a defenseman that wants to take your head off. Also if you are on the ice you can trap the puck and stop play. Standing you are going to be looking for a 2nd or third chance. No?
-It seems to me that you have better view of things above than things below. You probably know more about that than I do.
-you can flash a glove faster than a skate.
-I wonder if the dropping to butterfly is a way to get mentally in position? Sort of like being square to the shooter?
-the goalies themselves are bigger than ever so even in the butterfly they are more eye level with the shot coming in. Heck, when Ben Bishop lays down you've got the ice covered.
-just like a face mask made it easier to block a slapshot, the bigger/better pads have made it easier for the goalie to get down where sticks and pucks are flying. Heck, Lundquist uses his face mask to block shots for fun.

There is talk of making the goal bigger. I wonder if that will change people going down so fast.

Personally, my fav goalie of all time was Hasek. You never new what he would do. He would stand, flop, roll, and, best of all, he had flexibility that seemed not humanly possible. Slinky was fun to watch. You just never knew how he would play the puck. He just couldn't stick handle with a darn.
Next in my list is Tim Thomas. Gustsy, gritty, a great eye for the puck, played out beyond the blue paint :eek: and NEVER EVER GAVE UP. Of course being a Bruin and winning the cup didn't hurt either :D but I always thought he was a blast to watch.
Third would be Hextall. The only goalie that had more PIMS that most of the team... :eek: He liked to travel around and was a great stick handler (way better than Brodeur IMO)

So what do you think?

Oh BTW, it hasn't happened much lately so I have to gloat tonight
Bruins 3
Habs 1

The goalies play percentages, that means covering the bottom of the net. That means forcing the players make a difficult move (like a toe drag at full speed). A poke check can open the five hole and it moves the goalie perpendicular to the goal line, the opposite of what he wants to do. A poke check favors the shooter if you miss, or if you don't get all of the puck. Miss and they score, but cover the bottom of the net and they have to make a great play at full speed.

If the players shot like they do now, yes, but they would alter their style immediately. And they would score more frequently. No part of the goalies body should be above the bar, that wastes 'coverage'.

Save percentages of the best goalies have not significantly changed (Ken Dryden and Roy were about a 0.920 goalies at their peak), but the NHL average has gone from about 0.880 to almost 0.920 in 25 years. You can't say the current methods are not an improvement.

Good points all. Playing the percentages is, IMO more like hoping to make a save rather than going for the puck. The bigger leg pads do make the butterfly a large obstacle if the pads are on edge and not flat. And the bigger trap is an advantage too. But I sure do see a lot of five hole goals, it seems more than ever.

I guess I'm just being a cantankerous old goalie who still thinks he can play!

Man it'd be great to argue this stuff over beer between periods with you guys.