You got me with this lol he’s been off, it could be a stomach bug going around. A lot of folks I know in the area have gotten I’ll the last 2 weeks or so. May have finally made its way to Downtown
unclelayman
He’s just spent. Got over loaded trying to force the team into the playoffs in march, and now they can’t score enough.
Volatile22
It’s playoffs. The Panthers had several days to prepare a gameplan around getting 4 wins against us. There is absolutely no secret to the fact that our entire offense revolves around 1 man. Therefore, to beat the Lightning, you dedicate everything to shutting him down.
We simply haven’t made the adjustments. We have 4 lines now that want to play like the top 6, spread out and making cross ice passes. The Panthers are outnumbering us at the puck and taking away those passing lanes at the source. In the past, our 3rd and 4th lines would respond by playing in tight spaces with one another, cycling down low, banging bodies, and outnumbering the other team, until a D-man leaked down for a wide open opportunity. Inevitably, that relieves some of the pressure on the top guys, they get some room and can do what they do. Our bottom 6 has done that exactly 0 times this entire series, so Florida keeps having their way with us and shutting down Kuch.
SpicyTang0
It’s not game 4, 3rd period.
Why try? We got plenty of time.
Slayziken
I’d imagine it’s a combination of exhaustion from dragging this team kicking and screaming to the playoffs and Florida knowing that shutting him down gives them the best chance of advancing
AdamAptor
Panthers know to suffocate and frustrate him. You do that to this 1 player and our offense mostly vanishes. That’s called a lack of depth.
Phunluver
For real, the Panthers have completely taken him out of all 3 games so far.
Key_Bass_3572
He had over 50% of the teams scoring this past season. He got them to the playoffs, if it wasn’t for him they would have had a disastrous season. I’m sure he’s tired and they’re all over him and he can’t do anything, unfortunately they are not going to advance.
frockinbrock
Love Kuch, and his passing and IQ is the guest tier. But the *rest* of his game has not been there since the hip injury/surgery. He literally can make up for all that during the season, but when the passing lanes and penalty margins are more narrow in April, it really shows- and this is the weakest lightning squad we’ve had in the playoffs.
But I’d also say the coaching should have prepared and already adapted more for this happening. In the playoffs, Screening Bob and taking lots of shots has been the only thing that reliably gets past him- instead we’ve gone like 10 power plays with maybe 4 SoG- not counting the ones that were going wide but Bob grabbed them.
Like how this many PPs with almost no adjustments in 9 periods? Come on now.
Also to that point, love Hedman, but it seems 80% of those point shots are just going way wide of the net. That’s just not gonna cut it. And he’s out *best* defender right now.
Comparing the team 2-6 years ago, with our current D of Lilligren, Perbix, post-concussion cernak, old man Dumba. Panthers are way too good for those young guys- not their fault, and no disrespect to them, just outplayed and out-experienced.
It’s incredible Vasy has kept us within 1 goal most of this series. With healthy Sergechev and McDonough this same group would be 2-1 Lightning.
But this right now is the cost of success and deep runs with unexpected flat cap.
And seriously the Cats are playing very well, I’m not sure who is really going to give them a hard time unless they face Vegas.
kkelly1991
He does seem off. In fairness, the panthers are shutting him down. We haven’t really adjusted to it. He’s probably exhausted from carrying this team into the playoffs.
It’s not just him either, the majority hasn’t stepped up. The defense needs work, too many back door plays, the structure isn’t great at all.
There are many factors as to why this team isn’t winning, it’s not just Kucherov and honestly relying on one guy isn’t a winning formula. Everyone needs to step up, with the exceptions of Stammer and Vasy.
2ndprize
Its not super complicated. The panthers had to ask themselves how do we want to lose this series (by this i mean they have elected the poison they wish to face like when a football team goes all in to stop the run electing to let the qb beat you). The Panthers elected to shut down Kucherov. He has been matched up with 3 people who are defensive all stars and a supporting cast with speed. The Panthers decided if they were going to lose it would be because the stamkos and lower lines got them.
Look at Stamkos’s production in the series. It isnt really from kuch
12 Comments
You got me with this lol he’s been off, it could be a stomach bug going around. A lot of folks I know in the area have gotten I’ll the last 2 weeks or so. May have finally made its way to Downtown
He’s just spent. Got over loaded trying to force the team into the playoffs in march, and now they can’t score enough.
It’s playoffs. The Panthers had several days to prepare a gameplan around getting 4 wins against us. There is absolutely no secret to the fact that our entire offense revolves around 1 man. Therefore, to beat the Lightning, you dedicate everything to shutting him down.
We simply haven’t made the adjustments. We have 4 lines now that want to play like the top 6, spread out and making cross ice passes. The Panthers are outnumbering us at the puck and taking away those passing lanes at the source. In the past, our 3rd and 4th lines would respond by playing in tight spaces with one another, cycling down low, banging bodies, and outnumbering the other team, until a D-man leaked down for a wide open opportunity. Inevitably, that relieves some of the pressure on the top guys, they get some room and can do what they do. Our bottom 6 has done that exactly 0 times this entire series, so Florida keeps having their way with us and shutting down Kuch.
It’s not game 4, 3rd period.
Why try? We got plenty of time.
I’d imagine it’s a combination of exhaustion from dragging this team kicking and screaming to the playoffs and Florida knowing that shutting him down gives them the best chance of advancing
Panthers know to suffocate and frustrate him. You do that to this 1 player and our offense mostly vanishes. That’s called a lack of depth.
For real, the Panthers have completely taken him out of all 3 games so far.
He had over 50% of the teams scoring this past season. He got them to the playoffs, if it wasn’t for him they would have had a disastrous season. I’m sure he’s tired and they’re all over him and he can’t do anything, unfortunately they are not going to advance.
Love Kuch, and his passing and IQ is the guest tier. But the *rest* of his game has not been there since the hip injury/surgery. He literally can make up for all that during the season, but when the passing lanes and penalty margins are more narrow in April, it really shows- and this is the weakest lightning squad we’ve had in the playoffs.
But I’d also say the coaching should have prepared and already adapted more for this happening. In the playoffs, Screening Bob and taking lots of shots has been the only thing that reliably gets past him- instead we’ve gone like 10 power plays with maybe 4 SoG- not counting the ones that were going wide but Bob grabbed them.
Like how this many PPs with almost no adjustments in 9 periods? Come on now.
Also to that point, love Hedman, but it seems 80% of those point shots are just going way wide of the net. That’s just not gonna cut it. And he’s out *best* defender right now.
Comparing the team 2-6 years ago, with our current D of Lilligren, Perbix, post-concussion cernak, old man Dumba. Panthers are way too good for those young guys- not their fault, and no disrespect to them, just outplayed and out-experienced.
It’s incredible Vasy has kept us within 1 goal most of this series. With healthy Sergechev and McDonough this same group would be 2-1 Lightning.
But this right now is the cost of success and deep runs with unexpected flat cap.
And seriously the Cats are playing very well, I’m not sure who is really going to give them a hard time unless they face Vegas.
He does seem off. In fairness, the panthers are shutting him down. We haven’t really adjusted to it. He’s probably exhausted from carrying this team into the playoffs.
It’s not just him either, the majority hasn’t stepped up. The defense needs work, too many back door plays, the structure isn’t great at all.
There are many factors as to why this team isn’t winning, it’s not just Kucherov and honestly relying on one guy isn’t a winning formula. Everyone needs to step up, with the exceptions of Stammer and Vasy.
Its not super complicated. The panthers had to ask themselves how do we want to lose this series (by this i mean they have elected the poison they wish to face like when a football team goes all in to stop the run electing to let the qb beat you). The Panthers elected to shut down Kucherov. He has been matched up with 3 people who are defensive all stars and a supporting cast with speed. The Panthers decided if they were going to lose it would be because the stamkos and lower lines got them.
Look at Stamkos’s production in the series. It isnt really from kuch
They have smothered him