They've been better in previous games but Roussel is really crapping the bed. He has a great opportunity with Bo/Gagner, especially since Gagner disappears in spurts.
Same thing with Boucher, you're with EP, he needs to let Goldy/EP handle it and just get himself to open ice. Honestly he looks like he doesn't have a clue of what he should be doing. I know he is dominant in the AHL, makes me wonder what he does differently down there.
Second kings goal...I knew this was going to be an issue when Granlund just stopped skating when he lost the puck on the half wall. He's the center...just kept gliding backwards and he's at the blue line.
Look, I know I harp on this guy all the time. But I feel like it's necessary to expose some of absolute bullshit he gets away with.
So he is barely moving when he hits the blueline, and Hutton is in a battle so he just fluffs it back into the zone. YOU DO NOT CHANGE HERE. YOU HAD TIME TO ASSESS THE PLAY. IT IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO CHANGE, YOU ARE THE LAST MAN BACK!!!
Seriously, go back in this game to 3:32 remaining in the 2nd. THere are FOUR Kings and just Granlund and Hutton. Actually the play takes a bit longer to develop...
Ok at this point let's just say he doesn't know Luff has released. Ok fine. There's still just you (the center, who has extra responsibilities), both d-men and THREE kings that you can see. Why would you now SKATE FORWARD PAST BOTH D-MEN TO REACH THE BENCH AND CHANGE??!!?!?!?!?!
Had Granlund even just sagged here (why did he have to hold the blue line?), this goal doesn't happen.
Marky hasn't been this twitchy on breaks or the shootout this whole year, so he makes a mistake here too. Probably not the pad you want to put down first, Luff has no momentum to the blocker side and would have had to go to his backhand. But it was just an unnecessary play before it even got to this point.
NOthing play but Jakey looked around before trying to make a move on the high half-boards. He lost the puck eventually but I have to emphasize that this is a really significant thing that IMO partly explains why he's been so much better in this game.
WIth this defence being suddenly more competent, sometimes the forwards are surprised when they get a clean pass and are too startled to do something about it....sort of comical.
GUDDY PLAY YOUR OWN FRIGGING SIDE
Wow ridiculously good defensive play on the PP (sigh) by EP. Super slow back pass by Edler and then getting caught at the opposition blue line....bad old times from Edler on the PP. Other than that he's been pretty good though. I just don't think he belongs on the PP, and that's an opinion from a couple of seasons ago that hasn't changed/
This entire hemming in the zone on the 4-vs-4 at 12:05 in the 3rd is because Granlund is standing around like a dope again. Really soft clear at the end and he's lucky Edler steps up to give it the extra tap to get it out .
