CSW: While Scheifele did not seem to be on top of his game, the wingers more than made up for it. Connor had a monstrous first period and pretty much maintained a good level of play at both ends of the ice from there on. Wheeler's game was quite similar - hard work paid off, resulting in us getting chances. Him throwing Edmundson down to keep the puck moving forward was a good example of what I'd like to see more from the guys - no matter how skilled you are, sometimes it is required to show a bit of grit. Scheifele did not have a spectacular night, but overall, decent work, for which he got his reward in the third.
ELL: And the winger of the day was, rather easily, Laine. Seven shots on goal, including the PP goal that still has me in awe: how does a goalie have so much time to prepare for the shot and still be unable to catch the puck? Moreover, it seemed like Laine's feet were actually moving tonight, which has not been the case recently. No wonder the results were better tonight - both with and without the puck. Little with a really solid game, as is the case with Ehlers. Little's defensive game is still on point, which is a relief. I felt like the Blues managed to negate Ehlers' speed (him flying into the Blues' zone was not particularly successful), which hurt his game.
CLT: Another amazing night for these three. Copp with two assists, which is always a positive from someone who plays in a shutdown role and does not play on the PP. Lowry with a goal and a bunch of very good plays to prevent the Blues from creating offense, and Tanev with a very typical game of him - causing chaos with his speed, intercepting passes and creating some chances (the first goal was a good showing from him, but it was more of a defensive breakdown by Parayko and Edmundson - in that situation, no matter who has the puck behind the net, there is no reason for both defensemen to double-team the puck carrier at any point). As a unit, they click, and quite honestly, we need them to do that.
PHA: The whole line had a strong night. Armia had a couple of great chances, especially the one created by Hendricks in the first period. Perreault had an assist on the 2-0 goal, and the rest of the game was a strong showing too. Hendricks is damn slow, but he played well, especially in his own zone.
44-8: If it was not for the penalty in the first period, I would have claimed that Morrissey had a flawless game. Yes, he was that good. Being matched up against Tarasenko and coming out so far ahead is no small feat, yet he achieved just that. The goal and the assist in the third were just icing on the cake. Furthermore, the hit on Sobotka (?) was a beautiful one. Trouba was not as impressive, but a strong game nonetheless - two assists and a successful night shutting the opposition down.
5-57: Myers' first period was quite bad - the play with the puck was hopeless at times. After that, he picked up the pace and had a rather good game. Nothing too spectacular, but good enough anyway. Kulikov was very good; very little complaints about his defensive game, and offensively... yeah, he did not bring much, but that is to be expected.
7-3: I guess Chiarot was fine, on the basis of me not seeing awful blunders from him (which is actually great). Poolman, on the other hand, WOW. That was some night from him; four shots on goal (including two from quite dangerous areas) in just over eleven minutes of ice time, and the defensive side of the game was nothing to scoff at either. Someone mentioned that Poolman was +11 in Corsi, which is impressive from a third pairing guy.
37: Can you complain about a shutout? No? Then we'll congratulate Helle for a great game and move on.
We completely ran over one of the best teams in the league - especially when looking at the defensive side of the game. This was far from a regular beatdown - in fact, this chart that was already posted here demonstrates how big a schooling this really was.