Need to be better on the PP. The refs gave us a few favors (probably wrong word but whatever) that we didn't capitalize on. Other than that, kept up with a very solid Boston team.
Impressed:
Bobrovsky was very solid tonight. Made a couple of key saves. Didn't give up many rebounds.
Foligno. We need him in the lineup and we can see why.
Umberger. He played fairly well tonight. Had an element of speed on the forecheck and made decent passes for once.
Johansen. Hit a post, was one of our biggest offensive threats all night, carried the puck, made nice passes.
Atkinson. Wasn't as much of a threat offensively but did a very good job with the speed and not getting knocked off the puck.
Dubinsky. Solid game, don't like him being too much of an agitator but was probably our best forward (if not Johansen).
Chaput. He's acclimating well to the game.
Murray. Need I say more? Very good at both ends of the ice tonight.
Savard. He was strong. Obviously making a case to not be the healthy scratch anymore.
Unimpressed:
Gaborik. Needs to get going. Either he's in a slump or he's lost a step offensively.
Anisimov. Has been fairly flimsy defensively and has been quiet offensively. Need much more.
Johnson. Yeah he's a warrior and takes the hard minutes but he needs to either bring more offensively or tighten up defensively. I don't read into +/- much but it's just as much about contributing at one end of the ice as the other.
Tyutin/Nikitin. They're becoming less of a factor in my opinion and that's not good. They are being surpassed by Murray, Wisniewski's offense, Johnson's play (good and bad), and the battle between Prout/Savard. We need Tyutin and Nikitin to step up.
Starting out this bad and still only being 5 points (hopefully 3 tomorrow) is pretty astonishing. Imagine if we go on a hot streak and peel off 5-6 in a row?
Imagine if we go on a hot streak only to miss out by a tie-breaker because our horrid start killed us.
