EDIT: Linden Vey Called Up
He will be making his NHL debut Thursday night when LA takes on Buffalo.
I thought the Tigers could have won this game. I thought they had better prime chances to score. Spokane was very opportunistic on their chances.
Defense
Overall I liked the play of Tommy Vanelli, Kyle Becker, Ty Stanton, and Matt Staples on the back-end. I thought the defense played pretty well with breaking out of their own zone. Instead of starting the play behind the net or rifling the puck up the boards, there was a lot more skating out and starting the play from the high slot area, or jumping into the play to be the 4th outlet pass option, which gave the forwards a full head of steam receiving passes instead of having to slow down and maneuver passed players at their own blueline.
Tyler Lewington
Was not on the Ice in the third period. He took a big unexpected hit and left the game. As a result Kyle Becker, and Ty Stanton received a ton more ice-time and they both handled it really well. I thought both showed some signs of fatigue later in the game. It was a good thing the Tigers dressed 7 defenceman however Scott Allan still didn't have much ice-time and got pegged with 2 minor penalties.
Chippy Game
I thought the Tigers played a pretty chippy game with Spokane finishing their hits, and in turn Spokane started getting chippy too. I thought their were points in the game where the Tigers tried to play with the tough guy type mentality and their game-plan squeaked off the tracks.
Undisciplined Penalties
I loved that the Tigers were more aggressive but they took it a bit too far with some over the top uncalled for penalties.
Forwards
Cole Sanford was a bit snake-bit lately but he broke his 4 game goal scoring drought. He could have had a hat-trick tonight as he missed 2 very high quality scoring chances.
Overtime
Made me cringe when Cole Sanford received an accidental tripping penalty wit 15 seconds left in the game. The Tigers could have went into overtime with a minute 4 on 3 powerplay...Instead it was 3 on 3 play and then they were down 4 on 3 for 45 seconds.....They managed to kill the penalty off after spokane thought the game was over........Amid a scramble there was a spokane player in the crease and langhamer couldn't get over to block a shot..hence the goal was called off.
It didn't matter though as Spokane scored the winner 10 seconds later after Miles Koules was stripped off the puck in the neutral zone by Spokane's Mitch Holberg for a 2 on 1. Holmbert showed why he is the whl scoring Leader with a deep toe drag and still managed to roof the puck over Langhamer...Kyle Becker was up along the boards trying to be a passing outlet option but it looked like he caught an edge or something momentarily which let Spokane go in on the odd man rush.
I was happy with the progress the Tigers made with their breakouts in their own end.
18 comments:
5 goals against. I thought Langhammer should have had some of those. This is why I am not loving our goaltending situation. Langhammer always seems to get wins when we score a lot of goals. You should not lose a game you score 4 goals in....... the goaltending is part of the problem.
Spokane puts out their top two guns in OT and we respond with Miles Koules??? ***Scratches head***
Couple things about your summary, Lewington didn't play after the first period hit not sure we were at the same game but i thought the chippiness started with 4 questionable hits by Spokane in the first period. The check from behind on Valk, followed by the knee on Valk on the same shift. The Lewington hit although from the front was a hit on a vulnerable player and the last one was the high stick to Valks face at the end of the period.
I thought that was the case from Lewington but I remember listening to Ridley on the way home saying the Tigers pulled him in the third period, but your right I don't recall seeing him back on the ice after the hit.
Carter Proft was definitely one of the instigators of the whole thing, but I thought that a lot of Tiger players were throwing behind the scenes shots at other spokane players for no reason. I don't mind the small love taps, but when players start altering their skating paths to get in a cheap shot it means spokane got the tigers off their game-plan
There probably should have been twice as many penalties called, but that would have wrecked any type of flow to the game, and I think that's why the refs were singling guys out, instead of coincidentals.
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Did anyone see what happened to Valk at the end of the 2nd period? He got dropped off the faceoff and I saw a lot of blood on the ice.
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The Tiger goalies seem to be pretty consistent in having a game with a high save percentage, followed by a game with medicore/poor save percentage. What happens in the past doesn't predict the future but if langhmamer keeps following that chart he should be up for a very strong start next game....if saying this doesn't jinx it :)
Look on the tiger site to see what happened to Valk, intent to injure and was not called, terrible!
I was sad to see the tigers lose this one, I thought they could have easily won it. Too bad!
Ouch a cross-check to the face...I wouldn't be surprised to see the Tigers send that video to the league.
Did Valk return to the game after that point? And speaking of Valk, he sure has not been a factor in games. It seems that he is gripping his stick or also missing his linemate Hunter, as they do play very well together. Our scoring has all been very secondary guys, will be nice to have our primary scorers back and firing. I think that will be a big different when we have 2 of our biggest offensive threats back at full force.
The game the other night is a perfect example of one of the things wrong with todays game. One of your top players gets cheap shotted not once, not twice but three times in one period and no one does anything about it. The overager you kept because of his physical presence can't do sweet tweet because no one on the other team is going to take him on, and if he does grab someone and beat the tar out him, the team ends up on the short end of what would most likely be a 7 minute shorthanded situation due to the instigator rule. Players don't have to be accountable for their actions anymore because the players aren't allowed to police the game themselves. Rant over.
I would like to see Doty beat the s*$t out of anyone who takes advantage of our players. I am not saying he should Bertuzzi everyone but when one of our top guys is smashed up good, he needs to grab him and lay some haymakers. The team will take the penalties that result.
I know the resulting penalty would suck but Doty would only have to do it a handful of times before teams won't bother with the cheap stuff as they know Doty will whirl them around and beat the crap out of them.
I do think Doty needs to do a bit more intimidating out there.
At least doty blocks shots and back checks unlike #9
We are in first place and it seems it is with or without #9's help. 10 points in 8 games.......not really first rounder material. Would be shocked if he makes team Canada. -1 in a 5 goal win.....something is not working right.
How is it that last years 4th line is this years 1st line and vice versa? Valk and Hunter have to wake up! So frustrating to watch! At this rate, might as well trade them and go with the guys we got and hope to draft well in the future.
Who knew but we should have traded Valk and kept Boston. Man, our first line sucks. -1 and 5 goals were scored...... they did not factor into any!
With tonights goal, Hunter and Doty have the same number of goals......4
Non of those guys get held accountable by their coach, that's why they get away with it
Come on you guys. Long ways to go yet this year. Valk and Hunter will get the job done. I would not discuss Doty or Boston in the same sentence as those 2.
So why did we trade off Leier to keep Doty to protect Valk and Shinkaruk but he never plays on their line? what good is he on the bench? If Shinkaruk and Doty are NHL material they should be able to play with each other.
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