Thornton fought and it was a decent fight...that doesn't excuse him playing over Howden who has done pretty well for himself so far this year.
As for the lineup change, I don't think it made a whole lot of sense. Huberdeau is struggling to score, no doubt, but putting him on the 2nd line isn't going to change that, it's not a lack of trying on his part or chemistry (it's only Barkov's second game back).
That said, the biggest 2 issues facing this team right now, are lack of offensive pressure/winning forechecks and shooting the damn puck. OMG, I lost track of how many times players passed up great opportunities so they could pass for hopefully a better one. You are going to lose that battle more often than not, I don't understand this mentality. I mean when a guy like Pirri passes instead of shooting, that's crazy, shooting is what he does.
These guys have what it takes but they are doing it all wrong. I don't know if it's bad mental prep or bad coaching (and it may seem to be the latter at this point), but it has to change. Also I have no idea how this team has such a good PP, they get some decent pressure at times but in general it's not good enough.
Luongo, if no one else, was once again stellar and deserved a far better fate than that last night. I'll give some kudos to Ekblad as well and Barkov for scoring, but that's about it. This is not good enough.
