In person, the defense looked awful. They got turnstiled time after time, bad pinches, and a bunch of missed or ill-timed passes. Staal looks like he's lost 5 steps, never mind one, and I had an old-timer tell me he thought Staal has been having a great season. I'm not sure if he's watching the same player.
Igor didn't look too great. I don't think it's a sign of anything negative. I sincerely doubt he's 100% or he's really rusty from the time off. I can't say that I'm unbiased, though. I've been a Shesty fan since we drafted him, but this wasn't a great outing.
Usually he's very good at sealing up the posts, so that first goal seemed awfully uncharacteristic. Some of the others were deflections and blown coverage, so I don't think it was as bad of a game for him as the stat line would show.
Had another guy at the game tell me he spoke to someone and that both Buch and Shesty are extremely, extremely lucky they were relatively unscathed in the accident. Sounds like things could've been a lot worse.
Watching the game as a whole, a lot of our guys didn't stand out at all. You knew when Panarin was on the ice every time he was out there. Same with Fox. Zibby to almost that extent but not exactly. The rest of these guys to find another gear.
The passes weren't connecting. They weren't finishing checks. The effort totally dried up in the second period and only picked up for the last 5 of the third.
I'm not really worried. This is a young team, and it wouldn't surprise me if the grind of an NHL season is getting to the younger guys. I still feel that Chytil is going to be a really good player for us.