I think that was Slaf’s best physical game of his career. He was finishing checks, initiating contact, absorbing hits really well. He looked to have a target and fought through it. Very different from the player we saw last season.
Slafkovsky played one of his best games tonight. You can see the growing confidence in his play, particularly in the overtime when Slafkovsky’s combination of size, speed, skating and hand skills allowed him to dominate. He showed MSL that he is a viable option on the second rotation after Suzuki, Caufield and Matheson. While he still makes some bad decisions ( the errant pass that led to the tying shorthanded goal) Slafkovsky, at the tender age of 19 is clearly showing that he is a star in the making.
Very few passengers tonight though Anderson continues his passive play and Roy showed he really is a rookie and that he still needs to amp up his pace against stronger, intense opponents. Both were largely invisible tonight.
Nevertheless, it was a great team effort against one of the league's stronger teams.