Stripped, Whipped and Rolled -
Well my heart isn’t broken and despite McCabe’s asinine assertions, I am not on the ledge. But I was disappointed that the game that could have vaulted us into the stratosphere was given away (waaaay b4 Nash stripped, rattled and rolled that GWG).
The first was crappy by both teams. But c’mon! only 4 shots on goal? That was just sad. Probably the worst performance of the season. Then again… watching the boys kill off a 3-on-5 PK was pretty damn great. And of course Captain Clutch arrived and made the period worthwhile with his trusty wrist shot off a Dwin pass. So not a total crapper because Telly was hell on wheels and we did draw first blood. 1 -0 Yotes
The second was very, very sloppy and only saved by CBJs inability to put more goals past a sluggish team. This is usually the period where we shine. But the lack of true pressure on the Jackets and a bad penalty that we can’t seem to kill, provide Nash and Klesla with goals. 2 - 1 Jackets. Telly is not as sharp in this period although if not for him this is probably much worse as the Jackets just walked right through the neutral seemingly at will.
The third however was a period to get excited about. I apologize to those poor folks behind me as I hardly sat at all (I was sooo sure my boys would pull this one out at the last possible moment). We get a 5 - on - 3 and Mules just hammers a slap shot home on Leclaire. 2 - 2 tied again. The big PM puts us right back into true contention for some points and we get some serious life in our game. Of course 4 minutes later Zherdev pulls off a slick wrap around and Telly’s confidence takes another hit. 3 - 2 Jackets.
But thank goodness TGO’s coaching skills have improved and he gets the right guys out on the ice as he pulls Tell for the extra attacker at the perfect moment (ok another 1/2 minute later might have been better but wth? at least it worked). Hanzal steps out on the ice and just rifles a snap shot home. With a minute and change left to go we are tied! (I think this is the point that I broke my voice). 3 - 3 game with major point on the line.
We settle in to basically play for the point. Silly Yoties. When has this EVER worked for us? Great teams would use that single minute to go for the win… Which is exactly what the Jacket’s Rick Nash did. And guess what? THAT attitude wins games. As we all know (hell, the whole world knows by now) Gnash jukes, dekes, slips and slides around DMo, Bally and Telly on his way to the GWG. 4 - 3 Jackets = stick a fork in it, we’re done.
Notes:
The PP is still too sluggish to be called a PP. We went 2 for 8! 25% again but sheesh this one coulda been put to bed on PP opportunities alone. (can I say this one more time? WG! STOP USING JOVO SO MUCH ON THE PP!) Every team worth the name, knows that pressuring JV on the PP pretty much handcuffs the first minute of our PP. Let’s try something different. Put the young guns out for the first minute and if they can’t get ‘er done then use the big guy. Mules has been phenomenal as the PP QB so far…give him something else to work with.
We weren’t very physical, we seem to get more hyped by the big hits and our play through the neutral gets really crazy when we don’t establish that hard, gritty physical tone early.
It warms my heart that the boys have come far enough that a loss hurts like hell now (that means that we are really committed to the Yotes cause) We have expectations now (remember those? dreams with legs, people!) . We expect to win these close games now. We are tres spoiled by our boys.
We can’t win them all. But it will sure be nice when we make the highlight clip for goal of the year… with us doing the scoring… *** find the Rick Nash world cup goal on you tube if you can… a truly spectacular goal by a guy who absolutely is a world class talent. This isn’t the first time he has stripped, whipped and rolled a team and it certainly won’t be the last.
Put it aside boyos. On to the next win…
LETS KICK SOME HAWK BOOTY! GO COYOTES!!!!
~photos by BTinAZ~
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9302501@N02/sets/72157603747626553/
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