That 1st line leaves a lot to be desired. I think Rust and Sheary are too easily overwhelmed in the dzone. There just isn't enough size/strength there to be able to count on them getting the puck out with any sort of frequency. We can probably get away with one of them there, but both of them is asking a little too much, especially when our dmen are playing poorly or when we don't have our full compliment of guys. Sid spending the majority of the game playing around our own goal line is a recipe for disaster.
Yeah, this was always the biggest struggle. Idk if it's just size, but they consistently struggle to stop the cycle early. Hornqvist generally helps with that. Sheary and Crosby had no issues with Hags or Hornqvist in that area, but with Rust it's consistently been an issue. I thought maybe Sullivan could coach some of those issues out, but it's been a while and I haven't seen any significant improvement there. They just don't seem to break the cycle aseasily.
Offensively it's great, they can really sustain pressure when it is in the zone, and for all the complaining of the Rust not making the plays, Hornqvist was arguably worse in that aspect. Rust seemed like the offesnive chemistry was picking up.
Transitioning it's okay, but they're not really executing the dump and chase right, which they'd probably not be terrible at with their speed. Problem is I don't think they want to take all those late high hit mid season that games like these will happen.
When Hornqvist is there, he may not have the speed, but they know he'll hit them hard enough to mess them up. Sheary and Rust don't have that. Kunitz has that when he only has to play 10 minutes a night. Maybe Wilson has that. Hags is somewhere in between when he's playing away from Bonino.
HBK actually didn't have a terrible night like they have in the past. They actually had SOME solid chances.
