Oh, here's what I took in tonight, if anyone's interested:
(Before the odd 3rd period lines)
Ruutu-Josefson-Brunner
I don't care who the center is, I'm still loving how Ruutu & Brunner work together. Brunner might have been the best forward on the ice tonight. Noticed him every shift, making things happen.
Not his fault that the rest of the forwards were pretty lack luster.
Camm-Zajac-Jagr
Jagr definitely has the foot off the pedal a bit and Camm is still getting used to how Zajac & Jagr work. I'm still withholding judgement but Zajac has been looking really good, really confident regardless. Hope it can carry over.
Clowe-Henrique-Ryder
I all of a sudden remember why I never liked Henrique & Ryder together.
Clowe was alright, maybe a bit slow at first, but it wasn't him. I just don't think you'll find too many instances where the other 2 click.
Tootoo-Carter-Janssen
Janssen can just **** right off. That's all I have to say about that.
As for the defensemen, each and every single one of them was playing above their head in some capacity and I kind of liked what I saw.
Larsson was just alright. I don't think he was bad, but I think this was a game for him to outshine the rest and he didn't.
Gelinas was good. His defense is still iffy at best, but I think it has shown marked signs of improvement. Which is good. Maybe it's because he knows both he and Severson want the puck, and that makes him more patient with his decision making. But he wasn't a jumpy overexcited puppy on the puck too much tonight.
Severson showed flashes of greatness - but he runs into some of the same problems that Gelinas does. He plays the puck, completely forgetting that there are 5 other guys on the ice that want to break up that play. A bunch of errant plays that kept the team hemmed in.
Helgeson.. I can see why we'll never be able to rely on him for offense. He can fire the puck, but it's always right into the middle of traffic where nothing can be made of it. He's also still defending out of desperation -- but a 3rd pairing dman isn't a ceiling too far out of his reach.
Merrill was great tonight. Nothing flashy, but he was wearing #7 and was kind of playing like a former #7.
Harrold, you all will be happy to know, was a bit of a trainwreck. He played the 2nd least of all the dmen and deservedly so. He was the vet out there but looked like a 1st game rookie. And I'm not even that big of a hater.
Also, I think Schneider got a few more tips than just on the shootout. He looked a bit more aggressive, coming out to challenge more than I remember.
