Lightning vs Canadiens

[gphockey]

Originally Posted by BurnTHalO

And I would argue he has made equally as many saves that no goalie has any business making. I'm far from saying Lindback has been good, but I really blame the defense way more than anything else on this team, and when you completely retool your defensive personel and end up with the exact same results, I go to the coaching. I really wonder if the amount of ridiculous crap our goalies take (hits/hacks/odd man breaks/etc.) mentally gets to them and they are just completely unprepared for easy shots.

I don't want to sound like I am just trying to defend Lindback. I remember going crazy when he got beat from the goalline like the third or fourth time this season because he was cheating over. Guess I wonder is that completely 100% goalie, or is that a goalie having such little faith in his protection that he screws up.

All good points, and I agree on the defense 100%, we need some changes there as well.

But don't you think that a team gets a mindset of instead of trying to do what you are supposed to do that you instead, and perhaps subconsiously, alter your play to "protect" or help a goalie that you really don't have confidence in?

For instance forwards that do not forecheck and shoot as agressively as they would like because they think they should hang back a bit, and possibly miss scoring opportunities.

There are those D men who agressively pinch in to hold the puck in the zone under normal circumstances, but fail to do so as they are unwilling to give up the odd man rush because they don't think the goalie will make the save.

D men sprawling on the ice desperately trying to block shots instead of letting the keeper handle the initial shot where the D man should be knocking down any opposing player in the vincinity of the crease/slot so a potential rebound is not potted for a goal.

I am not opposed to Lindback, I actually liked the move to aquire him and hope he ends up becoming our starter but right now, goaltending is certainly not one of our strongest areas on the ice.
We need that save pct over 900.

Forgot to touch on the coach. All coaches know each team is different so yes, Boucher is having difficulty finding the right combinations, but he has been very sucessful at every level he has ever coached at. I am willing to give him some grace for a while.