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Post by nsvees on Apr 18, 2014 20:55:50 GMT -4
The first home playoff loss since game 6 vs. Rimouski two years ago.
When they didn't score on the 2 man advantage, that told me it probably wasn't going to happen in terms of a comeback win. Pulling a goalie with 4 minutes left in a spot like that I hadn't seen before, but Ducharme didn't have a choice. They did get one goal back, but couldn't capitalize on their other chances. As has been said, their defensive coverage was brutal, especially in the first 2 periods when they allowed a number of Foreurs to get behind the defence.
Bibeau didn't have to make many great saves, but he seemed to know where the shots were coming from and was able to get to the right spot. I didn't realize the Val D'Or defence was so big, and they used their size to their advantage. Offensively, they were opportunistic. I give them full credit for their win tonight as they made the plays when they had to and the Moose didn't.
One positive for the Mooseheads is after a game like that, they can refocus on the task at hand, and Ducharme will have things he can get the players attention with. During a long home winning streak players can get a bit complacent, thinking they just have to show up. They started well, but they fell apart not long after. I would suspect the Mooseheads will play much better tomorrow night. Hopefully, they got their bad game out of their system.
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Post by halspal on Apr 18, 2014 20:58:52 GMT -4
Oh well, we can't win them all. Bibeau was sharp all game and definitely deserved the 1st star. We had lots of great chances that didn't go in. Can't wait till tomorrow, go Moose! I said the Foreurs in 6...but this could be a sweep. They are much more talented than the Moose. Haha, nice one.
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Post by wingman on Apr 18, 2014 21:07:10 GMT -4
I found the Moose were lackadaisical at times and didn't play with the intensity they are capable of playing. It seems like when they made soft plays, Val D'Or was ready and took advantage of it. Will give Val D'Or credit as they played a good game but also think Halifax is capable of playing a better game.
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Post by guru on Apr 18, 2014 21:12:47 GMT -4
PANIC! THE MOOSEHEADS COULDN'T GENERATE MUCH OFFENSE AGAINST THE TRAP. SERIES GOING TO BE OVER!
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Post by guru on Apr 18, 2014 21:18:28 GMT -4
I think the Mooseheads looked a little rusty and often goofed when they had possession of the puck. Good chance there will be a stronger effort tomorrow. I'm taking the Mooseheads to win tomorrow, not going to predict a random score though. Val'Dor will have to work harder tomorrow for turnovers... is the hope at least.
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Post by howitzer on Apr 18, 2014 21:18:59 GMT -4
It seems like when they made soft plays, Val D'Or was ready and took advantage of it. We've been making soft plays for a while, but have got away with it, for the most part. Against a team like VD, we can't be making as many. It's one thing to take risks and play with the puck against Charlottetown (no offense wingman ) but you'll pay for it against more talented teams....and we did tonight. Puck management was horrible, turnovers as mentioned. VD second goal, Lovell had time and space to get it out, instead he doubles back, fucks around, turns it over, and 25secs later it's in the net. Another goal, Meier turned it over coming across the line. VD will make you pay for those. Need to make the simple plays at this stage of things. Agree with others, just lacked intensity and urgency for some reason. VD played well....we can't sit here and just lists negatives and not give them credit. They're fast, skilled, and Bibeau LOVES playing us. We had some good chances, but he was solid, and no rebounds. I have no doubt Moose will be sharper tomorrow night.
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Post by Reesor on Apr 18, 2014 21:19:30 GMT -4
I found the Moose were lackadaisical at times and didn't play with the intensity they are capable of playing. It seems like when they made soft plays, Val D'Or was ready and took advantage of it. Will give Val D'Or credit as they played a good game but also think Halifax is capable of playing a better game. Geeze I had a big paragraph ready in my head and you just took the words right out of my mouth. 100% on all accounts. It's actually encouraging that we didn't play a good game and hung in there. If we had played well and Val d'Or beat us 5-2, I'd be a lot more concerned. Defensively we played ok. Held Val d'Or to 23 shots. Tied for their lowest shot total since Dec 8th. But the chances we gave up were doozies. 3 breakaways not including the penalty shot just can't happen. I thought Duke had his worst game in a long time tonight, but you can't really pick on him when 15 of Val d'Or's 23 shots were dangerous. Fucale played fine. Not great. But good enough for us to be in the game. Bibeau was outstanding. Definitely deserved first star. There were some positives. We did a good job killing their penalties. I thought our first line played well after the lines were put back to normal (ie: Ashley to the first line instead of Ciampini). As Murph pointed out though, our depth guys like Andrews and Ryan had awful games. We'll need them to be better to have a chance. We were due for a bad one. 13 straight home wins in the playoffs comes to an end. We'll just simply have to be better tomorrow night. We had great moments in game one, but a 60 minute effort will be needed to beat Val d'Or. They're the real deal. Go Moose!!! Almost forgot. What a save by Gadoury on the empty net attempt. That is encouraging to see guys trying like that late in a game they are probably about to lose. The effort level is there. We just need the execution.
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Post by guru on Apr 18, 2014 21:25:22 GMT -4
Looking forward to all the Ciampini haters on here to talk about Andrew Ryan and Brent Andrews play recently. I always liked Andrews in a 3rd line role but I realize this year there is no other choice but to have him on the top two lines. When he played on the third line, he never screwed up and could always pitch in on offense.
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Post by hfxfan09 on Apr 18, 2014 21:26:57 GMT -4
I imagine you'll see the Moose respond well tomorrow night, that was an uncharacterstically bad game for them. They started well, when Ehlers scored but then Val'dor just figured things out and started pressuring us and it worked. 2nd we couldn't get anything going, they spent far too much time in their own zone trying to defend and our defence was bad tonight, its uncharacterstic for us since we have real good D usually. 3rd, we started to come on a bit more and pressure them but it was 2 big a hill once it got to 4-1 the Moose need to pull it together. Zach made a few huge saves, bailed them out on the penalty shot which in my opinion was a very bad call, I'm not even going there I thought the slash on Ryan was a bad call too. (Maybe its just me but I thought Thomander and Mills both did a real bad job of officiating tonight the stuff that went uncalled on both teams, and I haven't commented on officiating in awhile I've learnt to leave it alone but it was bad tonight; in fact they should join their buddies on the banned list for the Q playoffs.)
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Post by Penguins23® on Apr 18, 2014 21:26:59 GMT -4
Sent from my SGH-I337M using proboards
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Post by guru on Apr 18, 2014 21:27:52 GMT -4
Mostly negatives here after 1 game (which is fair... but...). Reeser, get the game 2 thread started because people haven't started positive thinking yet in this thread. Need to move on.
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Post by Reesor on Apr 18, 2014 21:30:01 GMT -4
Mostly negatives here after 1 game (which is fair... but...). Reeser, get the game 2 thread started because people haven't started positive thinking yet in this thread. Need to move on. I think we've been ok so far. No "The sky is falling" comments. We're on a pretty even keel. Other than Matt Foley of course. What kind of Moose fan are you Mr. Poutine? Citris - I don't like your poster as much this evening.
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Post by Smiley on Apr 18, 2014 21:32:11 GMT -4
Mostly negatives here after 1 game (which is fair... but...). Reeser, get the game 2 thread started because people haven't started positive thinking yet in this thread. Need to move on. I think we've been ok so far. No "The sky is falling" comments. We're on a pretty even keel. Other than Matt Foley of course. What kind of Moose fan are you Mr. Poutine? Citris - I don't like your poster as much this evening. Shut up and just start the fucking game thread. :-).
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Post by Citris on Apr 18, 2014 21:45:17 GMT -4
Mostly negatives here after 1 game (which is fair... but...). Reeser, get the game 2 thread started because people haven't started positive thinking yet in this thread. Need to move on. I think we've been ok so far. No "The sky is falling" comments. We're on a pretty even keel. Other than Matt Foley of course. What kind of Moose fan are you Mr. Poutine? Citris - I don't like your poster as much this evening. Sorry I saw Penguins23 or with his jersey and hat, btw.
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Post by mooseguy on Apr 18, 2014 22:02:41 GMT -4
Full credit to Val d'Or for the win. Whatever they did effectively neutralized the Mooseheads usual puck control and working the corners. The D had a hard time getting the first pass up to the forwards and there were several turnovers along the sideboards. Bibeau saw most of the shots but he stood on his head during that 5 on 3. Val d'Or has a big team, they don't play physical, but they get in the way of a lot of passes and muscle the Moose off the puck frequently. I don't think the Moose have played such a strong puck moving back end in a while and have a hard time adapting to the turnovers. As many have said, tomorrow is another chance to play a better game. Several players can step it up tomorrow.
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