I don’t see a lack of effort, at least more so than the normal ebb and flow. Aho has always “disappeared” from time to time. Sometimes from that kind of game he sneaks up on people and still gets his pts but I feel every year of his career I’ve said something about him not being noticeable for the role he plays on occasion. He’s a small guy, it’s hard for him to take on the world one v one and it’s not his game anyways. He always works his way out.
Necas rarely doesn’t work. He’s the example of not working smarter than harder more than anything else. When things go wrong he tries to carry the world on his shoulders to help out, he knows he’s the dynamic puck carrier of the team. The timing of his plays were off last night, like a lot of guys were. This is why Rod leans on the Staal line so much. They play the same game every night and works the same on everyone. I was floored he moved Fast off it. I can only imagine that Fast is banged up but doesn’t want to come out of the lineup, and with Rod being Rod that attitude was respected and the adjustment is that Fast just plays less minutes.
Every year we go through periods where our chemistry is off and have to get back to basics, remind ourselves how we play. We always come out of it so I have no real issues yet. The defense has an incomplete feel to it and the goaltending has been all over the place. These things should settle down at some point. We just need to make the playoffs.
We also got outplayed at our own game last night. A younger, hungrier team outworked us at what we do well. We’re a target to every up and comer. They get up for the games, and I think we’re banged up and lacking a little confidence.
As always it’s one game, and we’re one game away from thinking everything is fine. I do think we need a bit of a reset and maybe a little rest for some guys who are banged up.
The spam shots vs quality opportunities concept has always been interesting with us. Spam shots get blocked easier imo.
