I've been mostly watching the Yankees, but had my eye on this. A win... we'll take it. This was a bit more Islander-like game, especially the first 40 minutes, but we need to figure out how to put a 60 minute game together soon. That was a bad 3rd period.
Some other thoughts...
Varly. I dunno, still early, but he looks like he has trouble tracking and locating the puck. A lot of goalies butterfly down automatically, but sometimes a second or two goes by with the puck behind the net and I feel like he's still on his knees trying to locate it. He seems to really bond with the guys though... hopefully he settles in.
What is Brassard doing? He looks... not good. He's winning faceoffs which we badly needed, but eh... he looks lost. Major downgrade from Flip so far, but I also want to feel for the only skater that wasn't part of this galvanized group last year. I'll give it a few more weeks.
Eberle looks fantastic to start the year. Hope he's ok.
Pelech is massively underrated around here. He had another fantastic game and is taking another major step. If he limits mistakes and adds offense to his game (Trotz giving him OT time) which is possible, he could be our best defenseman.
MDC... I dunno. Leash has to be short. He kind of just looks like a 4th line player. He's fine, but it looks like offense will be rare. He's worth so little on the trade market. What a waste. I want to punch myself in the face for having arguments through the summer explaining why MDC wasn't going to be a superstar in the NHL this year. Another waste.
Everyone knows it, everyone says it, but watching Barzal skate is crazy. He's seriously one of the best skaters I've ever seen. Kane is a better player, but I just haven't seen him with that kind of edge work. McDavid could do what Barzal does, but he's too busy quickly going to the net and scoring, so you never see him do it. And there's our problem.