3-1-3 when Leading after Second Period

[Southern_Canuck]

Coaching? Or just a non-clutch team?

1. (Road against Calgary) 3-1... win 5-1
2. (Home against Calgary) 2-1... lose 2-3 in OT
3. (Road against Anaheim) 1-1... win 2-1 in SO
4. (Road against LA) 2-0... win 3-0
5. (Home against St. Louis) 1-3... lose 3-4
6. (Home against Edmonton) 1-1... lose 1-2 in OT
7. (Home against Capitals) 2-1... lose 2-3
8. (Home against Wings) 2-0... lose 2-3 in OT
9. (Home against Canadiens) 3-0... win 5-1
10. (Road against Dallas) 2-1... lose 3-4 in OT

Here are the only other teams to blow a 2 period lead this season as of Sun Oct 25:

Detroit 2-0-1
Florida 3-1-0
Boston 3-0-1
Colorado 1-2-0
Carolina 1-1-0
Toronto 1-0-1

Collectively, the NHL is 85-5-5

S_C

[SKYO]

The Hockey Writers did a post about this today..

'Desjardins Leery With Canucks Youngsters'

http://www.fanly.me/c/jjPJnftUqi

Apparently Willie Desjardins hasn’t learned from Tortorella’s mistakes.

With the fiery coach now behind the bench for the Columbus Blue Jackets, shades of Tortorella are now being seen in the Canucks lineup with Desjardins deployment of his forwards, especially late in games. The Canucks have squandered two straight third period leads and are now 2-1-2 when leading after two periods.

For a team that is going to have to battle for every point in order to make the postseason, they can’t afford to throw away the lead late in games.

One strategy that Desjardins is going with late in games is taking away ice time for younger players in the Canucks lineup. Against Washington and to an extent against Detroit, the Canucks went down to three lines in the third period and limited the ice time of young forwards Jake Virtanen, Jared McCann, and Sven Baertschi. This led to increased ice time and higher pressure for some of the veterans on this team.

While it's frustrating to see all that talent being sat in favour of heady veterans, this all comes down to trust and the young stars have to earn it from any NHL coach.

I realize they can make mistakes but IF the vets are getting gassed towards the latter part of the game, I hope WD takes some risks in the 3rd period to finish off teams as Baertschi, Horvat, McCann all got skills to score some goals.

Plus the opposition's defense knows how to shut the Canucks offense down, by basically shutting down the Sedins and your golden.

[ESQ]

I preferred the religious-like line-rolling last season - get away from the match-up game, having 4 defensively-responsible lines that can survive the odd shift against the opposition's top line, and force the other coach to react to your lines, not the other way around.

Last year the Canucks lost once when leading after 2 periods, so definitely a concerning development.

[Southern_Canuck]

Maybe it's a small sample size - but when you are leading after two in 5 games, and you end up losing three of them... you are not a good team.

Coaching? Goaltending? Chokers?

Who knows... I guess we'll see.

S_C

[Meds]

Maybe it's a small sample size - but when you are leading after two in 5 games, and you end up losing three of them... you are not a good team.

Coaching? Goaltending? Chokers?

Who knows... I guess we'll see.

S_C

We've seen this for years now. The team manages to come out flat in at least one period of way too many games.

The one that is most concerning this season was against Detroit. Up 2-0 after 40 minutes, and controlling the play for most of that time, but when the puck dropped for the final frame the team just wasn't there.....and their opponent had played a hard game the night before in Calgary where they lost. Those are the eye-brow raising moments where you just have to ask, WTF?

That was a game that should have been 2 points in regulation, and we definitely should have had more legs in the 3-on-3 OT. We were still looking for our first win at home, so the motivation should certainly have been there.

We've gone through 3 coaches now with this core, and the time has come to point to the leadership group. To me that is the Sedins, Burrows, Hansen, Edler, Hamhuis, and Tanev (to a lesser extent). Those are the guys that should be setting the tone, and with WD behind the bench they are the ones playing the big minutes in the 3rd period.

[Madcombinepilot]

I think the stat is a little misleading. Yes we lost a bunch of those, but 3 of the losses were in OT.. There is no more 4on4 and we are getting schooled 3 on 3. We need to learn to play in the new OT. Not sure if that's a coaching thing, or if our older players are not making the adjustments.. I really expected the twins to dominate in 3on3, and they just haven't figured it out. It's almost like they are playing rush hockey instead of cycling hockey.. Once the twins get used to playing with space (it's like they panic with open ice this year?!??) and we find a 100% shooter to go with them (perhaps elder needs to sub off once we get possession and Vrbatta or McCann come on?) - not sure of the solution yet, but we need to work on it....

[Hockey Widow]

I think the stat is a little misleading. Yes we lost a bunch of those, but 3 of the losses were in OT.. There is no more 4on4 and we are getting schooled 3 on 3. We need to learn to play in the new OT. Not sure if that's a coaching thing, or if our older players are not making the adjustments.. I really expected the twins to dominate in 3on3, and they just haven't figured it out. It's almost like they are playing rush hockey instead of cycling hockey.. Once the twins get used to playing with space (it's like they panic with open ice this year?!??) and we find a 100% shooter to go with them (perhaps elder needs to sub off once we get possession and Vrbatta or McCann come on?) - not sure of the solution yet, but we need to work on it....

The twins are great 3-3 if they have the puck. When they don't they are a disaster, which was predictable and predicted. That's why they should only be out there for offensive face offs, not to start the OT and not defensive zone face offs.