Brick called this a "pretty gutsy win" and that's exactly what I was thinking. To hang in there on the 2nd half of a b2b with travel, in a game that was heavily disrupted and made that much more difficult by having to make multiple kills, was a good effort. Shame to give up a 2-0 lead, but fairly understandable, and they rallied to reach OT and get the extra point in the end. Yes they didn't play great, and the slow start was less than ideal, but while they were being outshot I felt they were matching and probably exceeding the Sens in terms of creating good chances, at least until they tired in the 3rd, and while Swayman had to be good I didn't think he had to face much that was really dangerous. Not a stolen game by any means.
When Marchand let a Sens player - I think it was Stutzle - blow past him far too easily just before the winning goal, I thought it was a lazy play, but he sure made good on it straight after with that excellent finish. Quality leadership from the front there. Probably Marchy isn't as consistent as he once was, but he's still got that ability to make really decisive and important contributions at key times. Good stuff.
Some people used to wish that Cassidy would complain to the refs more, on the argument that it would get them to call things more in our favor. Well Monty yells at the officials - a lot - and it makes no difference. IDK, maybe there's a happy medium that works for coaches. Or, just maybe, it's irrelevant, and the vast majority of the time the refs are simply going to call things, good or bad, as they see fit.
Excellent game by Zacha. Skating well, solid defensively, made some good backchecks, reading the play astutely, good, quick passing. That's the kind of performance we'll need from him more consistently once the serious stuff starts.
Let's finish this stanza of the season well against Philly before a well-deserved break.
What a great captain he is.
