For Friday, I’d like to give you another wonderful li’l video to watch.
Now, this isn’t wonderful in the usual way, because, well, bad things happen to the USA. Goals, specifically. But it’s Friday, right? And we want to grow with Jack Campbell, not just criticize his every move. So let’s grab some treats like these delicious blueberry almonds I have (get your own, I don’t share) and watch what happened to America yesterday in their pretty fantastic collapse against a country that I thought only played Olympic gymnastics because I have poor judgment and am a huge stupid. Turns out Belarus is really good at hockey, or at least they were yesterday. Look:
I’ll dish on what I saw in a sec, but maybe you would disagree. Go ahead and let us all know what this one, isolated game against Belarus means for Jack Campbell in the comments, because I print out every single one of those and read them before going to sleep at night. They are precious to me, although the .GIFs do lose something in a paper medium, not gonna lie.
Goal #1 – I’m not sure why you would want to let the other team’s Gavrus camp behind your defense for about twelve minutes, but that appears to be the strategy here. Off-wing, coming in unchallenged, and he finds the far side. How many goalies stop that? Fewer than are starting in the NHL come October, that’s for sure.
Goal #2 – Essentially a breakaway, and the move into the middle of the ice means the goalie has to look big and try to outguess/outwait the shooter. Campbell can’t win this battle, and the breakaway is converted.
Goal #3 – Another “wait, how did this get so deliberately generated?” play into the USA zone at the end of a power play–the eventual goal-scorer had just come out of the box–and Campbell gets a piece of the initial shot (which was deflected or affected by the defenseman). Unfortunately, the rebound comes right back where it can’t while the defenseman chooses to glide into the corner instead of staying with his man. The puck chose differently, and it’s a dunk for Belarus guy.
Goal #4 – Pretty tough deflection here off Campbell’s own defenseman during a penalty kill. That makes two friendly-fire goals in two games now, and Mr. Campbell would probably appreciate less of that. Sure, it’d be nice if he were psychic, but being on the penalty kill kind of necessitates a bit of anticipation by the goalie.
Goal #5 – Breakaway, five-hole. Goalies sometimes stop breakaways, but they sometimes do not. It would be nice to see Campbell make a statement here (or on the second goal) for sure. That did not happen, and that’s how you end up with a five-spot for Belarus.
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I haven’t slept much lately, you guys. It’s starting to wear on me. What are your nap secrets for a Friday afternoon? I need nap secrets.
Tyler Seguin (and company) has a touching Happy Mother’s Day message for his mom, and this time she doesn’t get really angry at him for lying about a fake engagement (I assume), which is nice. [NHLPA]
Stars are still scoring at Worlds. John Klingberg is the latest to do so. Hooray! [Stars]
The Canadians made a statement yesterday in their first win of the series. That statement was something like, “well, at least we get to play another home game. That earns money for our owners!” [NHL]
Devan Dubnyk has been officially counted out, and it’s anyone’s guess as to where he ends up this offseason. He was pretty much ‘rode hard and put away wet’ during his time with Minnesota, but one can’t ignore the fact that his performance was far above anything you can really expect from most goalies. Also, Chicago swept Minnesota, but you kind of knew that was going to happen. [NHL]
CAPGEEK REPLACEMENT ALERT! Hey, seriously, this is nice. [General Fanager]
Was Ryan Suter gassed from being overplayed this season? [Puck Daddy]
I love love love these so much. Justin Bourne breaks down the Lightning’s game-winning goal against Montreal Wednesday night to tell us what exactly happened. Know more about hockey! [The Score]
Sean McIndoe tells us how to enjoy the IIHF World Championships, and he even links to DBD because he is nice and a good writer and I sent him twelve dollars. [Grantland]
Puck possession is a big deal even in a little series. Read about how having the puck means winning games, frequently. [THN]
What’s going to happen to Michel Therrien? Well, he’s a Destiny’s Child-type SURVIVOR, so I think he’ll be fine. [SportsNet]
Pension Plan Puppets has a piece up about sexism and the NHL that you should read. [PPP]
Finally, you will enjoy this Friday-Special: Pretty Good, the Koo Dae-Sung pitcher who batted story. [SB Nation]
