6:30 start Wednesday. I won't be selling my seats this time

Best hold on to them!!

Playoff hockey is so weird. Home ice advantage is a crapshoot. Road teams are 18-15 so far. It seems like this is not unusual for this sport.

OKCAGS said:

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Hintz must have an injury ( probably the same with Pavelski ) but they are giving it all they have . Thank God for the 4th line , Smith and crew were awesome tonight .

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I think Pavelski is just old. Hintz on the other hand does not look right. He's playing with seemingly no speed. Now, i don't know if that's because Vegas is just so incredibly good with their sticks and are absolutely massive clogging up lanes, who's he's playing with (hello Pavs), or that he's battling a an injury, but we NEED him to get right.

Could be as simple as they are putting their focus and their best guys on Hintz and his line.

wrong thread

Islanders woof

Boston has to be saying wtf....again?

Avs just want it more

Colorado is going to be well rested for whoever ends up winning the series.

TV Casualty said:

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Colorado is going to be well rested for whoever ends up winning the series.

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They came into that series playing bad and the Jets playing well. What a turnaround.

EastSideAg2002 said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Colorado is going to be well rested for whoever ends up winning the series.

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They came into that series playing bad and the Jets playing well. What a turnaround.

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Avs averaging 5.6 goals/game is nuts, couple that with it being against the likely Vezina winner.

The Pilot said:

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EastSideAg2002 said:

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TV Casualty said:

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Colorado is going to be well rested for whoever ends up winning the series.

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They came into that series playing bad and the Jets playing well. What a turnaround.

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Avs averaging 5.6 goals/game is nuts, couple that with it being against the likely Vezina winner.

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If we can make it past Vegas, the series vs the Avs will be night and day. It will be free flowing and fast which plays into our strengths way more than this series

It also plays into Colorado's strengths.

I'm not sure we want to get into a track meet with them.

Yeah I didn't think Thompson had been in the top 5 of their issues. Razor said yesterday on The Ticket that he thought Thompson has been their 2nd best player in the series after Eichel.

Sure seems like they are overreacting to the Stars getting a couple goals up high on him in the past couple games. The Johnston game winner and the Dadonov goal in game 4 aren't being stopped by anybody. Just because the Stars are trying to go high on Thompson doesn't mean he needs to be pulled now, IMO.

Hope this move bites them in the bottom.

Thompson has been playing with fire this whole series, in my opinion. The first two games the Stars looked extremely tight in the "high danger zones" and made him look like an all-world goalie by putting shots in his chest or missing the net entirely.

His rebound control has been terrible and it was only a matter of time before the Stars started to make him pay. Cassidy probably saw the Stars get some swagger back and didn't want to have a blowout tonight in front of the Stars crowd.

Luckily, Hill hasn't had a great season. But if the Hill from last playoffs shows up, we could have a tougher road in front of us.

Either way, let's get Hintz and Duchene going tonight and this team is going to be tough to beat after facing some adversity to start.

I know you can say this about any team, but with Vegas I think it's all about their defensive structure in front of the goalie. They can make average goalies look like all stars with how they play in front of them.

Hill is just ok, but we've struggled with him. When Vegas plays well he's protected to where it's easy for him to almost always be squared up on the shot. He's a really big net minder so there is very little open net when he's square to the puck. Those over the shoulder shots are narrow with how big Hill is.

The Stars have struggled to break through Vegas' defense to get hill moving laterally where he struggles.

The Stars fire a lot right into his belly or shoot weak shots from the point hoping for a tip. Vegas usually has us tied up and kills the tip game.

It seems like a risky move from Cassidy, but Hill has had a lot of success against the Stars. Stars have to find a way to change the point of attack on Hill.

Statistically, Thompson and Hill are almost identical. Save% is .908 and .909, and GAA is 2.70 and 2.71 respectively. (fwiw, Otter is .905 and 2.72)

Razor's old saying of "you must elevate to accumulate" is in effect. Many of the Stars goals came from obtuse angles, and up high. It appears to me that Thompson doesn't do a great job of sealing the near post (much like Ben Bishop) - he definitely leaves the top open. Vegas' D is setup to keep you from shooting from the slot/middle, and making you take shots from the sides. That somewhat works against Thompson, imho. And I agree with him not being great at controlling rebounds.

Hill is a lefty whereas Thompson is a righty, so maybe they're thinking that'll change things up on us.

All in all, I don't think this change matters much. It just tells me that they think they're in trouble and need to change things up.

Is Lundkvist on the bench tonight? I hear Hakanpaa might be ready, and Bichsel is now in the AHL and could be called up.

Edit to add: no sense wasting a spot on Nils if he isn't gonna play

Lots of empty seats. Lazy corporate mofos.

Great, a PK with no Miro.

Kashchei said:

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Lots of empty seats. Lazy corporate mofos.

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early start on a weekday