Had a Leafs fan sitting close by. Was a pretty nice guy, but was gloating a whole bunch after the 1st. Didn't say anything to him then (other than joining my fellow Bolts fans in Bolts cheers to drown out the Go Leafs Go chants
). But when Marner took off with a burst of speed heading for our net, he couldn't resist bragging about how fast the kid was and what great wheels he had. While he was bragging, Strålman was calmly keeping up with him and pushing him wide of the net, taking away any chance at a shot. So I just said - rather smugly, I'll admit - "Well, he couldn't get past Strålman." The guy sighed and said, "Yeah, and we gave him (meaning Strålman) away for nothing."
So I nobly refrained from rubbing it in when Stråls kept up with Nylander's fancy moves on a later attack.
I hope Cooper keeps these d-pairs together. Hedman and Strålman are incredibly solid. McDonagh is improving each game and he works well with Girardi. Even the Sergachev and Coburn pair looked not horrid at times. Sergy in particular had a very nice game with some good defensive plays. Paired with Coburn, I think he's forced to make better decisions because he doesn't have Strålman there to rescue him. The kid now has almost an entire NHL season under his belt. Time to take off the training wheels.