Actually a very tight game till Ottawa tired in the third. Good to see we can take advantage of situations. Miller's goal was absolutely critical
Good
Miller - really can't a say enough about leadership and outstanding play in every zone. Remember when he first got here he was a kind of one way winger and whose main asset was coming off the wing with a good shot. Defensively he never seemed to get deep in his zone and mostly stick checked. But over the last couple of years he has transformed himself into a brute on the forecheck, a game manager and shutdown player. Become a complete player.
Hronek - no doubt the our best d-man in this one. Can effortless cover ground to take away chances and showed an excellent stick. Along with Hughes has changed the way we can come out of zone.
DiGuiseppe - dogged determination through out and showing the talent to make plays
Myers - both him and Soucy continue to break up plays. Didn't see Myers take step wrong in this game. Was even stepping up to the blue line to break up plays. Could see he was tentative b/c over his years in Vancouver he learned not to do this, since there was so little back check support and he often got burned (and maybe overly blamed) trying to take people had his line.
Mikheyev - is steadily improving. Thought he was he was the best player on his line throughout most of the game.
deSmith - little brain dead handling the puck out of his net but he was very important late in the second and at other times. Good at battling through traffic to stop point shots and really only gave up the one goal on the breakaway (other was an unstoppable fluke). Great pickup.
Hughes - not his best game but even when not 100% he contributes a ton. Play in his own zone remains very good which was the area he was predicted to have trouble with
Others
Hoglander - looks so close to really doing something. Showed more speed in this game. Appears to need only a little more poise around the other team's net. I think his overall play is improving but he still prone to making overly ambitious efforts. One example was in the second when he crossed the blue line with the puck and tried to make a play back and through an Ottawa player to Joshua. Play was all heading one way and play could have led to trapping much of teammates. Luckily the Ottawa player had trouble with the puck. These are the things Hoglander must stop doing. However, he does appear to becoming much more dangerous in the opponents zone. Also he was not perfect but better at getting the puck out of his zone.
Joshua - gradually improving but still real clumsy on his chances. Don't think he is back to play of last season. But, like others, he is working hard
Pettersson - people likely disagree but I didn't think he played that well. Too much skating into traffic (especially on the PP), too many errant passes, too many missed checks. But amid a lot of troublesome play , he has those moment of brilliance that turn a game. Just when I think he is playing a flakey brand of hockey he s does something great.
Garland - another game of buzzing around breaking up plays and creating chances, He is certainly not hurting the team but you wonder if his style will ever allow him to get in sync with other players. Sort of one man band out there.
Liked Ferraro and he is up grade on the other guy who often talked so softly that I couldn't really hear him well and I just stopped making the effort to listen to him.