dondo
04-25-2009, 11:36 AM
Another game the boys let slip after leading so dominatingly all game. They must have a guardian angel on their shoulders (who goes out for smoke breaks every few periods/games) helping them through because they winning some of these tilts in the ugliest way possible, but they are winning the ones they have to win to continue. Weird.
D
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Giants won a game they should have, in an OT that never should have been. The boys got caught sitting back in the third, squandering a few PP chances and failing to keep the puck out of their net at the other end of the ice.
I'm sure the Rockets fans are going to be a bit choked about the reffing, but really for it being Savage ( yes, Savage.. where the hell has he been hiding?) and Papp the penalties all seemed fairly legit. The Rockets had a goal disallowed as the Giants did last night. Cody Almond clearly kicked the puck into the net and the goal was waived off after going upstairs.. the on-ice officials called it a goal. Goes to show you how much the WHL needs goal reviews, which are going to around for the regular season for the first time, starting next season.
Casey was marginally better, but i my mind still lacks the kind of intensity needed in the playoffs. I was not pleased that casey seemed to be out there for crunch time along with Ross, who's bad turnovers lead to two of the goals against tonight. Ross scares the hell out of me when he handles the puck. Giants D still making too many unforced errors and allowing themselves to be rattled by token pressure. They need to get over that and move the puck quicker and with more confidence.
Rockets did a very good job tying up the passing lanes and forcing the Giants on their usually clean breakouts. They use their reach to their advantage as well, but the Giants still managed to find open seams and some unmolested time in front of Guggenberger. They'll need to continue to do that to take this series.
Rnd 3 Game 2
Giants Fizzle Rockets
Vancouver 4 Kelowna 3 OT
Don Robinson
The Giants had a strangle-hold on the game in the third and then sat back, allowing the Rockets to get back into the game and force overtime. The Giants had great success in this one putting pressure on the Rockets at opportune times, but reverted to backing off in the third, taking their foot off the gas trying to protect the lead, giving the Rockets golden opportunities. Casey Pierro-Zabotel had 1G 1A tonight, earning first star honours. He didn’t play much of a different game than when he was struggling for most of the playoffs, but managed to get the points in this one. He still floats far too much for my liking and should be a more of an impact player in the playoffs than he has been. The Giants were forced to make poor plays tonight and were still far too cavalier with the puck. They were better bringing consistent pressure though and won more puck battles than they did on Saturday. They had success going to the net and creating traffic in front of Mark Guggenberger. The Giants opened the scoring off of a great pressure play in the Rockets end of the ice. James Wright got the puck to Garry Nunn, who found Evander Kane wide open in the slot for a great chance, which he buried. A far cry from the tentative play of the night before.
Tyson Sexsmith made some great stops tonight, one of the most important being one with seconds dwindling in the first, stoning Cody Almond who was gifted the puck in one of the Giants more gratuitous turnovers. The Giants need to get that out of their game and not to allow the Rockets pressure to rattle them when they are handling the puck. The Rockets ended up tying the game early in the second, when Nick Ross missed his check behind the net and Mikael Backlund was free to put a perfect backhand pass onto Ian Duval’s stick at the side of the net. The Giants used 2 of their 3 PP chances in the second to take the lead and pad it by an insurance marker. Jonathon Blum kept the puck in and moved it down to CPZ, who found Mike Piluso charging the front of the net and burying it. Blum scored late in the second pinching onto a big rebound at the side of the net and beating Guggenberger high over his glove. The G-Men squandered PP chances in the third, standing still and not actively finding the open ice. They coughed up the puck frequently and could not force any real pressure with the man-advantage. They sat back and let the Rockets come to them. It turned out to be a big mistake.
Mid-period CPZ took a double minor for high-sticking ( the second high-sticking double minor of the night for the Giants) and the Giants got caught chasing in their own zone, failing to clear the puck with alacrity. Jamie Benn made them pay for it as Backlund and Barrie set him up for the goal. Late in the third the Giants were allowing the pressure to get to them as the Rockets had the momentum and forced the Giants to play the puck before they were ready. Craig Cunningham lost the puck back into his own zone and it trickled toward the face-off circle. Craig Schira whiffed on the attempt at clearing the slow moving biscuit and Cody Almond swooped in and ripped it past Sexsmith, tying the game. The Giants weathered some serious pressure for the rest of the third, barely holding on to force OT, after leading for a good deal of the game and for some reason changing the strategy for the worse.
Backlund had a penalty at the end of the third, getting his stick up high on a Giants player. The Giants squandered that PP and then another Backlund penalty mid-period in OT and Don Hay used up his time-out to allow the most ineffectual line to continue to play on the PP, continuing to fail to keep it in the zone or create any pressure whatsoever. Not really sure what he was thinking there, when the second PP line seemed to me to be getting better chances on the night. The Giants finally managed to reclaim the win, making it far tougher on themselves than it needed to be, with a very late goal by Casey (19:25). A scramble in front of Guggenberger for the loose puck had all the boys crashing the net. Casey found the biscuit before the Rocket defenders, flipping it over Guggenberger for the winner. It was a fitting end as Casey was the player who allowed the Rockets to get back into this one in first place, by taking a bad penalty.
The Giants were 2 for 9 on the PP, while the Rockets went 1 for 6 (two of those being four minute minors). The Giants barely out-shot the Rockets tonight 37-31, but kept most of the shots to the outside and made sure Sexy saw them. Sexy had a solid night for the most part and was abandoned by his defenders on a couple of the tallies. Mischa Fisenko, back in the line-up, had a pretty solid game and Andrej Kudrna, playing with Lance Bouma and James Henry look to be a dangerous combination. It was good to see both euros players laying the body better and challenging the puck carrier. The Giants did a better job putting pressure on the Rockets, but were still guilty of far too many turnovers. Part of that was the Rockets pressure on the Giants puck carriers and clogging up the passing lanes through the neutral zone, but another part was just some sloppy play with the puck by the Giants themselves – something well within their control. The Giants D were a bit too quick at times to make that soft pass and were not moving the puck quickly enough to thwart the Rockets pressure. This is an adjustment they are going to need to make. The Rockets big boys have a reach advantage so the Giants will need to use their speed and mobility to better advantage in the coming games.
The Giants also need to rediscover an active cycle to their PP, where they move players around to find open ice, instead of having them all stand still and get picked off by being painfully predictable. They also need to bring a lot more presence in front of the net. Guggenberger is a young goalie who allows soft goals when pressured and the Giants would do well for the rest of this series to get in his face as often as possible. All the Giants goals tonight, except for maybe Kane’s opening marker, came from pressure in the crease area either by crashing or creating screens and yet they use that gambit far too little for my liking. They would do well to bring a heavy forechecking game into Kelowna’s barn and force their skill players to have to make plays before they are ready, as they do to the Vancouver squad.
Good for the G-men to get the W, tying the series, but they could have had that with greater momentum going in to Kelowna by keeping up the pressure and taking the game in regulation. Game 3 takes place in Kelowna on Tuesday April 21st . The Giants will have to get a split or better to regain their home-ice advantage. The Rockets have yet to lose at home in these playoffs and are a very tough team to break at home. The Giants will have to have players who might not have stepped up as of yet step up their games and take advantage of the Rockets big and less than mobile D-men, working the puck in the seams and forcing the puck in all areas of the ice. Guggenberger is vulnerable so they will need to press him at every opportunity. The puck drops in Kelowna at 7pm PDT on Tuesday.
Three Stars
1) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
2) Mikael Backlund
3) Evander Kane
D
__________________________________________________ ______________
Giants won a game they should have, in an OT that never should have been. The boys got caught sitting back in the third, squandering a few PP chances and failing to keep the puck out of their net at the other end of the ice.
I'm sure the Rockets fans are going to be a bit choked about the reffing, but really for it being Savage ( yes, Savage.. where the hell has he been hiding?) and Papp the penalties all seemed fairly legit. The Rockets had a goal disallowed as the Giants did last night. Cody Almond clearly kicked the puck into the net and the goal was waived off after going upstairs.. the on-ice officials called it a goal. Goes to show you how much the WHL needs goal reviews, which are going to around for the regular season for the first time, starting next season.
Casey was marginally better, but i my mind still lacks the kind of intensity needed in the playoffs. I was not pleased that casey seemed to be out there for crunch time along with Ross, who's bad turnovers lead to two of the goals against tonight. Ross scares the hell out of me when he handles the puck. Giants D still making too many unforced errors and allowing themselves to be rattled by token pressure. They need to get over that and move the puck quicker and with more confidence.
Rockets did a very good job tying up the passing lanes and forcing the Giants on their usually clean breakouts. They use their reach to their advantage as well, but the Giants still managed to find open seams and some unmolested time in front of Guggenberger. They'll need to continue to do that to take this series.
Rnd 3 Game 2
Giants Fizzle Rockets
Vancouver 4 Kelowna 3 OT
Don Robinson
The Giants had a strangle-hold on the game in the third and then sat back, allowing the Rockets to get back into the game and force overtime. The Giants had great success in this one putting pressure on the Rockets at opportune times, but reverted to backing off in the third, taking their foot off the gas trying to protect the lead, giving the Rockets golden opportunities. Casey Pierro-Zabotel had 1G 1A tonight, earning first star honours. He didn’t play much of a different game than when he was struggling for most of the playoffs, but managed to get the points in this one. He still floats far too much for my liking and should be a more of an impact player in the playoffs than he has been. The Giants were forced to make poor plays tonight and were still far too cavalier with the puck. They were better bringing consistent pressure though and won more puck battles than they did on Saturday. They had success going to the net and creating traffic in front of Mark Guggenberger. The Giants opened the scoring off of a great pressure play in the Rockets end of the ice. James Wright got the puck to Garry Nunn, who found Evander Kane wide open in the slot for a great chance, which he buried. A far cry from the tentative play of the night before.
Tyson Sexsmith made some great stops tonight, one of the most important being one with seconds dwindling in the first, stoning Cody Almond who was gifted the puck in one of the Giants more gratuitous turnovers. The Giants need to get that out of their game and not to allow the Rockets pressure to rattle them when they are handling the puck. The Rockets ended up tying the game early in the second, when Nick Ross missed his check behind the net and Mikael Backlund was free to put a perfect backhand pass onto Ian Duval’s stick at the side of the net. The Giants used 2 of their 3 PP chances in the second to take the lead and pad it by an insurance marker. Jonathon Blum kept the puck in and moved it down to CPZ, who found Mike Piluso charging the front of the net and burying it. Blum scored late in the second pinching onto a big rebound at the side of the net and beating Guggenberger high over his glove. The G-Men squandered PP chances in the third, standing still and not actively finding the open ice. They coughed up the puck frequently and could not force any real pressure with the man-advantage. They sat back and let the Rockets come to them. It turned out to be a big mistake.
Mid-period CPZ took a double minor for high-sticking ( the second high-sticking double minor of the night for the Giants) and the Giants got caught chasing in their own zone, failing to clear the puck with alacrity. Jamie Benn made them pay for it as Backlund and Barrie set him up for the goal. Late in the third the Giants were allowing the pressure to get to them as the Rockets had the momentum and forced the Giants to play the puck before they were ready. Craig Cunningham lost the puck back into his own zone and it trickled toward the face-off circle. Craig Schira whiffed on the attempt at clearing the slow moving biscuit and Cody Almond swooped in and ripped it past Sexsmith, tying the game. The Giants weathered some serious pressure for the rest of the third, barely holding on to force OT, after leading for a good deal of the game and for some reason changing the strategy for the worse.
Backlund had a penalty at the end of the third, getting his stick up high on a Giants player. The Giants squandered that PP and then another Backlund penalty mid-period in OT and Don Hay used up his time-out to allow the most ineffectual line to continue to play on the PP, continuing to fail to keep it in the zone or create any pressure whatsoever. Not really sure what he was thinking there, when the second PP line seemed to me to be getting better chances on the night. The Giants finally managed to reclaim the win, making it far tougher on themselves than it needed to be, with a very late goal by Casey (19:25). A scramble in front of Guggenberger for the loose puck had all the boys crashing the net. Casey found the biscuit before the Rocket defenders, flipping it over Guggenberger for the winner. It was a fitting end as Casey was the player who allowed the Rockets to get back into this one in first place, by taking a bad penalty.
The Giants were 2 for 9 on the PP, while the Rockets went 1 for 6 (two of those being four minute minors). The Giants barely out-shot the Rockets tonight 37-31, but kept most of the shots to the outside and made sure Sexy saw them. Sexy had a solid night for the most part and was abandoned by his defenders on a couple of the tallies. Mischa Fisenko, back in the line-up, had a pretty solid game and Andrej Kudrna, playing with Lance Bouma and James Henry look to be a dangerous combination. It was good to see both euros players laying the body better and challenging the puck carrier. The Giants did a better job putting pressure on the Rockets, but were still guilty of far too many turnovers. Part of that was the Rockets pressure on the Giants puck carriers and clogging up the passing lanes through the neutral zone, but another part was just some sloppy play with the puck by the Giants themselves – something well within their control. The Giants D were a bit too quick at times to make that soft pass and were not moving the puck quickly enough to thwart the Rockets pressure. This is an adjustment they are going to need to make. The Rockets big boys have a reach advantage so the Giants will need to use their speed and mobility to better advantage in the coming games.
The Giants also need to rediscover an active cycle to their PP, where they move players around to find open ice, instead of having them all stand still and get picked off by being painfully predictable. They also need to bring a lot more presence in front of the net. Guggenberger is a young goalie who allows soft goals when pressured and the Giants would do well for the rest of this series to get in his face as often as possible. All the Giants goals tonight, except for maybe Kane’s opening marker, came from pressure in the crease area either by crashing or creating screens and yet they use that gambit far too little for my liking. They would do well to bring a heavy forechecking game into Kelowna’s barn and force their skill players to have to make plays before they are ready, as they do to the Vancouver squad.
Good for the G-men to get the W, tying the series, but they could have had that with greater momentum going in to Kelowna by keeping up the pressure and taking the game in regulation. Game 3 takes place in Kelowna on Tuesday April 21st . The Giants will have to get a split or better to regain their home-ice advantage. The Rockets have yet to lose at home in these playoffs and are a very tough team to break at home. The Giants will have to have players who might not have stepped up as of yet step up their games and take advantage of the Rockets big and less than mobile D-men, working the puck in the seams and forcing the puck in all areas of the ice. Guggenberger is vulnerable so they will need to press him at every opportunity. The puck drops in Kelowna at 7pm PDT on Tuesday.
Three Stars
1) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
2) Mikael Backlund
3) Evander Kane