Good win. 3rd period was particularly strong. Someone suggested we should play 4 on 4 on PPs and I agree.
The West coast trip can be a march of death and has been for us in the past. 3 out of 6 points isn’t ideal, but given how poor the special teams has been on both sides along with the scoring drying up, take that as a small victory.
We absolutely have to correct those issues this week as the schedule gets significantly more difficult.
I think the defense is actually holding up fairly well in the past two games, which is a positive given we haven’t had Dougie available. Yes the Kings and Sharks aren’t world beaters but when you’re missing your top defender, you expect to take a hit on that side and we haven’t too much to this point.
Went with Bernier who keeps impressing me with how well he is playing, Nico who I thought was a consistent factor in putting us in the zone to create chances and Kuokkanen for the hard work to get that tying goal. Really happy he came through, he needed that one badly.
22 minutes to the Johnsson-Nico-Bratt trio last night. They’re shouldering a heavy load up front. Zacha was next with 20 minutes then Mercer with 18.
We didn't play our best but still found a way to win missing our best F and best D, on the road, at the end of a back to back.
12 points in 10 games, 98 point pace over a full season. Some of you guys need a reality check.
Of course they win in a shootout in a west coast game. Pretty much the Loch Ness monster of wins, a few people claimed to have seen it but did it really happen
They dont even have Bratts SO goal on replay...! The condensed replay showed all but Bratters..
They dont even have Bratts SO goal on replay...! The condensed replay showed all but Bratters..
Ahahaha I watched the replays this morning and noticed that! Did he actually score? The world may never know
Idk why anyone cares how a win looks right now.
Nice little move to his forehand in tight that Reimer got a good piece of but it just barely trickles in.
I think that is a good point about Zacha PK Holtz on the umbrella. Obviously we would have Hughes and Hamilto if healthy, but they aren't. So what do we do in the meantime? Move Holtz down to the 2nd unit, and put either Bratt or Mercer there? I mention it above but while PK has been lousy, Smith has been equally lousy so I think we just have to wait patiently for Hammy.It's great that we kept coming back from a goal down the last two nights and tied up two games with minutes left in them. But we are making a bad habit of it. When is the last time we actually scored the first goal in a game? I think I have to go back a ways.
I think troubles with the power play aren't just confusion and poor zone entries - those are big troubles to be sure - but also that we don't have anyone out there who can really stand up to pressure by the opposing PK or who can break a full court (full ice) press by themselves. When we had Zacha and Holtz on the half walls with Subban on the point in a diamond formation with five minutes left in the game, I thought every single one of them was vulnerable to being pressed off the puck. Zacha has a fine shot given the room and can operate on the point given the room but when you press him he isn't strong on the puck; Holtz is a light rookie; Subban right now is slow to react when he gets jumped. It's scary that those were our three guys out high at that key moment of the game.
And on the zone entries . . .
At times, when we were trying to reorganize and rush up ice for a zone entry, I thought we were actually going to drop the puck to the penalty killers who were hanging out at our own blue line. We were on the verge of giving up high quality shorthanded chances.
We're very fortunate we got three points out of the last two games.