Hellebuyck outplayed Allen is about as simple as it gets. I felt like we had plenty of scoring chances where he just came up huge. Allen isn't to blame on any of the deflection goals, but that shorthanded breakaway was pitiful and those are big saves you need from your #1 goalie. He played well for about 45 minutes and then had his usual meltdown. 5 goals on 25 shots should NEVER happen.
Kyrou and Thomas already look like legit NHLers. Thomas dances around the zone with the puck like McDavid or Kane does, I was very impressed with him tonight. Kyrou on a line with Schwartz and Schenn just feels right. The kid wasn't afraid to take a hit when he needed to, made smart passes, gave some effort on the defensive side by having a good stick.
Barbashev looked like the Barbashev from the Minnesota series. He was winning board battles, flying around the offensive zone, drove to the net, cycled well, and made some smart passes.
O'Reilly looked solid, looks like he just needs to get used to Tarasenko's tendencies.
Pat did not impress and he should not be on that first line. Fabbri really needs to not be made of glass and come back because I fear they will soon put Steen on the top line thus ruining our third line and having Steen playing top line minutes again which needs to not happen because I thought he looked great on the third line with Bozak and Perron.
Dunn left a lot to be desired. Some boneheaded outlet passes.
JBo has his speed back but looks like he has some rust to shake off or maybe he's just declined that much, who knows yet.
Pietrangelo, Parayko, and Schmaltz all had good games. Schmaltz definitely looked really good this game, let's hope he can keep it up because having his passing and offensive skills will be an upgrade over Borts.
How the f*** is Chris Butler playing in the NHL? I still remember my report in 14-15 camp where I reported he looked like the worst player on the ice and proceeded to call him Chris Butthole. I don't know if he literally begs and cries to management to just give him "one more shot" each time and he brings nothing, EVERY TIME.
EDIT: Also wanted to say that Berglund looked decent tonight. It seems like he worked really hard in the offseason and dropped some pounds and maybe even some height? Either way it has definitely improved his speed and it seems like he's turned more into a pass first type of guy now. But of course he still had his lapses during the game, but overall I was happy with his performance.
