I agree it was a sloppy game by the Checkers, their goaltender included. I felt like Nedeljkovic's game was as bad as Kaskisuo's was the game before. the 2nd and 3rd goals seemed really soft from where I was sitting. maybe the 2nd one was a nice tip? Nedeljkovic was grossly out of his net on two occasions, and at one point the puck ended up between him and a Marlie on the goal line before he got what I thought was a generous whistle. that said, he is very solid and just the right amount of assertive handling the puck, unlike Kaskisuo who gifted Roy's SHG on a silver platter.
Necas I felt like he hustled just fine, just had a couple goofball brain fart type plays. one where he skated in for a change in lieu of a tantalizingly loose puck and a red carpet into the slot on a forecheck, just because it seemed like he was spacing out at the end of a shift. and one where he mishandled the puck at the blue line and it left the zone for a totally unnecessary Marlies breakaway. his speed was very obvious and probably the single most glaring elite level skill on display as far as this not biased even a little bit observer is concerned. he manufactured two prime chances out of thin air just by warping past the defender on ok zone entries.
Sellgren looked really solid, folks. he was noticeably smaller than most of the Marlies forwards, though. that goal he scored was really nice, and he held the puck really solidly circling behind the net on a dump and chase, despite giving up a lot of size on the battle.
I liked Bean a lot, and I came away from this up close look thinking he'll adjust to the NHL physicality without too much trouble. he's actually a bit taller than I expected.
Poturalski got checked through the door onto the Checkers bench. Didier got his face smushed into the ice after one of the Marlies goals. Geekie got the Warren-Foegele-in-the-Caps-series treatment. Clark Bishop got banged into the boards really hard.
and yet Gauthier was throwing his weight around, and let a prime chance roll off his stick in the 3rd. Saarela was really battling along the boards it felt like. Carrick was a complete physical and thorny presence, and I had a front row seat to him getting his money's worth on his high sticking penalty. Roy was good in a space-eating kind of way, and finished Kaskisuo's gift to Nastasiuk perfectly. I think McKeown dropped a glove when a Marlie knocked his helmet off in the 3rd period, but the refs weren't having it. Patrick Brown was really the backbone of their possession game when it was going well in the 2nd period.
and a bunch of other stuff. they handed out hand towels, and some prick towel whipped the back of my head after the tying goal in the 3rd. but the people beside me were fine and a good time was had by all. that arena is quite loud. the mascot banging the drum got on my nerves pretty much immediately. I took public transit from my front door to within 30 meters of the north gate, it cost me $3.10 Canadian and took 49 minutes with one transfer.
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