We got outswarmed last night. The Wild worked a smothering style of team defense. They were total pests all over the ice, getting sticks, bodies, anything they could in the way of all the pretty passes the Lightning were trying to make. But they were also opportunistic. When one guy was successful in knocking away the puck from a Bolt, another guy was right close by to grab it and steer it into our O-zone.
Girardi earned his -2 by first trying for a blocked shot against Donato and whiffing badly which let Zucker get a free tip in and then by totally losing coverage on anyone in a Wild jersey on the second goal. Hedman got his -3 mostly because he was partnered with Girardi but also because he was on the ice for the empty net goal.
Sergy didn't play that great, but at least his play didn't lead to goals against this time. I, too, am a bit surprised that he seems to not be progressing - especially defensively - as expected from his solid last year. Coburn did okay.
McDonagh and Cernak were mostly solid though they, too, had trouble clearing the pesky Wild players out of our zone. Cernak lost coverage a few times which can be expected by a rookie but he recovered very well.