Article: Think With Your Heart During the Wild Playoffs

[Justin Hein]

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[Dis-allowed display name]

Perhaps the refs should stop swallowing the whistle in the playoffs. 

Not with the way our power play looks right now.  Oof.

[IllicitFive]

51 minutes ago, Dis-allowed display name said:

Perhaps the refs should stop swallowing the whistle in the playoffs. 

Not with the way our power play looks right now.  Oof.

Outside of the slew foot on Ek and punches to the face of Kap I don't mind letting them play, but those two are egregious and should be called.

Besides deep  dives of effectiveness, analytics, and who should be playing I think most here have embraced the " Lay down your agendas, pick up a sword, and join the ranks of hockey fans ready to sweat and bleed through every seven-game series from now until June ". Because well, what else do we have to debate about which is half the fun of sports. In the end, we are all fans who want more hockey.

[mnfaninnc]

Logic says we now have a 1/5 chance of winning this series. Logic says we're too small to win. Logic says we were lucky last night/early this morning. 

Logic can't measure puck luck, momentum, refereeing, or streakiness. The intangibles are unmeasurable, and they are maybe the most important thing. 

Herb Brooks' speech did not come out of logic except for the part that someone was due to beat USSR. It came out of heart, and that's what that team played with once they got the lead. 

In 2 games we have seen the heart of Hartman and Foligno. We've also seen Boldy's heart as he is playing really well right now. After getting punched in the face with no call, I suspect we are about to see Kaprizov's heart & drive on full display in St. Paul. Hopefully some more will jump on and really up their play levels. 

Heck, even Johansson looks like he's found his heart!

[OldDutchChip]

28 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Logic says we now have a 1/5 chance of winning this series. Logic says we're too small to win. Logic says we were lucky last night/early this morning. 

Logic can't measure puck luck, momentum, refereeing, or streakiness. The intangibles are unmeasurable, and they are maybe the most important thing. 

Herb Brooks' speech did not come out of logic except for the part that someone was due to beat USSR. It came out of heart, and that's what that team played with once they got the lead. 

In 2 games we have seen the heart of Hartman and Foligno. We've also seen Boldy's heart as he is playing really well right now. After getting punched in the face with no call, I suspect we are about to see Kaprizov's heart & drive on full display in St. Paul. Hopefully some more will jump on and really up their play levels. 

Heck, even Johansson looks like he's found his heart!

hmm i actually think more logic and tactical, smart thinking is absolutely necessary. do not be content with what played out thus far. we have a chance to win this round, not just show that we could hang with big boys....the reality is we have the better goalie. we also have boldy playing better than anyone on vegas side. we have kaprizov who is playing like the best player in the world - which he is. but we are not perfect, we need to optimize our approach and remove parts that will undoubtedly do us in - like Braz and Zeev likely too (too raw). Using MN miracle is all good apart from the fact that US got whooped by USSR earlier and would not have won more than a game against the soviets in best of 7. that one was luck. let's not follow their method - it's been played out before for us many times.be smart - make the right call to win. 

[Justin Hein]

14 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

Using MN miracle is all good apart from the fact that US got whooped by USSR earlier and would not have won more than a game against the soviets in best of 7. that one was luck. let's not follow their method - it's been played out before for us many times.be smart - make the right call to win. 

This team also doesn't practice that much. I'm sure they're in good shape, but Herb would throw up if he saw this team's calendar. 

[mnfaninnc]

15 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

Using MN miracle is all good apart from the fact that US got whooped by USSR earlier and would not have won more than a game against the soviets in best of 7. that one was luck. let's not follow their method - it's been played out before for us many times.be smart - make the right call to win. 

The point wasn't how much better the Russians were. If you look at how Brooks prepared the US team, it was very strategic. He had a brutal schedule to prepare them, not something any Olympic team would have today. He skated them hard so that the players could keep up with the best skaters in the world through the 3rd period. He completely changed the way they played, in which he needed that volume of games to get them to instinctively play that way. There was a lot of strategy that was involved well before he gave his motivational speech. 

I'm not discounting the strategy, but it's the heart that gets a team to play way above their paper capabilities. That is what we need + a really hot goalie. There are still tactical things that can be tweaked, like not having Faber run around doing too much, and staying bunched in the middle not letting anyone through. 

But, if you look at it, Foligno played with heart, Hartman played with heart (like his name would indicate), Boldy played with heart, and I'd include Faber in that group, but he's got to rein it in a bit. I'd like to see Faber a bit more physical, but staying in his lane unless absolutely necessary. And, I'd also put Zuccarello in that category as he has played far grittier than the regular season. I also mention Johansson, who was like the lion in Oz, but he has found some heart. 

[OldDutchChip]

54 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

The point wasn't how much better the Russians were. If you look at how Brooks prepared the US team, it was very strategic. He had a brutal schedule to prepare them, not something any Olympic team would have today. He skated them hard so that the players could keep up with the best skaters in the world through the 3rd period. He completely changed the way they played, in which he needed that volume of games to get them to instinctively play that way. There was a lot of strategy that was involved well before he gave his motivational speech. 

I'm not discounting the strategy, but it's the heart that gets a team to play way above their paper capabilities. That is what we need + a really hot goalie. There are still tactical things that can be tweaked, like not having Faber run around doing too much, and staying bunched in the middle not letting anyone through. 

But, if you look at it, Foligno played with heart, Hartman played with heart (like his name would indicate), Boldy played with heart, and I'd include Faber in that group, but he's got to rein it in a bit. I'd like to see Faber a bit more physical, but staying in his lane unless absolutely necessary. And, I'd also put Zuccarello in that category as he has played far grittier than the regular season. I also mention Johansson, who was like the lion in Oz, but he has found some heart. 

Sure I understand that. Right now I don’t see much “heart” in either Braz or Rossi. If they don’t bring that today - I think a change is a must - options - Vinny and/or Ohgre

[mnfaninnc]

16 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

Sure I understand that. Right now I don’t see much “heart” in either Braz or Rossi. If they don’t bring that today - I think a change is a must - options - Vinny and/or Ohgre

For me, Breezers needs to take the body much harder than he has, and get to the front of the net. If he's engaged, I expect to see him in the middle of some after whistle pushing as he's immovable. 

Rossi is still a better option than either Vinny or OgZ. I didn't particularly like Vinny at center, but I did like him at wing, and he added some scoring. Rossi has simply got to get going. I think it would help him to have some skill on his line, and Breezers isn't providing it. Trenin seems engaged and is finish hits with venom. That's what he's here for. I think he's outplayed Breezers hands down. I'd really love for Breezers to finish a big hit on Hague, he's just got to bring much more bite!

I think the lineup stays the same tonight. My hope is that we start well and Vegas sleeps through the 1st period as they're not used to the "early" start time.

[OldDutchChip]

3 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

For me, Breezers needs to take the body much harder than he has, and get to the front of the net. If he's engaged, I expect to see him in the middle of some after whistle pushing as he's immovable. 

Rossi is still a better option than either Vinny or OgZ. I didn't particularly like Vinny at center, but I did like him at wing, and he added some scoring. Rossi has simply got to get going. I think it would help him to have some skill on his line, and Breezers isn't providing it. Trenin seems engaged and is finish hits with venom. That's what he's here for. I think he's outplayed Breezers hands down. I'd really love for Breezers to finish a big hit on Hague, he's just got to bring much more bite!

I think the lineup stays the same tonight. My hope is that we start well and Vegas sleeps through the 1st period as they're not used to the "early" start time.

Yes, but should Braz and Rossi play the same type of game as g1-2 then I would make the change

We have seen Braz for 20 games now and that meanness is not there….

[mnfaninnc]

16 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

We have seen Braz for 20 games now and that meanness is not there….

Maybe he just forgot to pack it since he was in a hurry to get to Vancouver?

[RedLake]

Lightwinds plays like Rossi. Soft!

[raithis]

The thing is, Boldy has always been our second-best forward.  He doesn't need Kaprizov to be as good as he is.  He just needs to keep moving his feet and keep attacking the net.  He seems to be a lot less effective when he parks himself in a spot and tries to imitate a sniper.  He's more effective as a power forward, and in the playoffs that's how he's been playing.

And Foligno has always been the heart and soul of our team.  When Guerin re-signed him, he knew this.  Any time he's been hurt, we just aren't the same team, and out team defense isn't nearly as good.  If he's out there playing a high-intensity game, the whole team follows suit.  If he's injured, we become a much more passive, conservative team.

[Patrick]

This article was written with all heart that's for sure. 

Foligno is playing 14 mins/game and has one point.  Lets pump the brakes on his HOF induction a little. 

The story is KK, Ek, Boldy playing the toughest assignments and winning decisively and Gus Bus playing lights out.  

If you want to sing additional praises the defense has been sublime.

If you want guys who are stepping up look at Hartman.

Foligno hasn't been terrible, but definitely hasn't been a game breaker by any means. 

[Up North Guy]

2 hours ago, Patrick said:

This article was written with all heart that's for sure. 

Foligno is playing 14 mins/game and has one point.  Lets pump the brakes on his HOF induction a little. 

The story is KK, Ek, Boldy playing the toughest assignments and winning decisively and Gus Bus playing lights out.  

If you want to sing additional praises the defense has been sublime.

If you want guys who are stepping up look at Hartman.

Foligno hasn't been terrible, but definitely hasn't been a game breaker by any means. 

I think you discount how much his heavy hit game impacts the opponents. He is doing what we have wanted him to do all along. If he chips in on the score sheet, all the better.

[Patrick]

20 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

I think you discount how much his heavy hit game impacts the opponents. He is doing what we have wanted him to do all along. If he chips in on the score sheet, all the better.

Vegas outhit MN 42-26 last night....Its a pretty overrated stat.