Hard to believe, isn't it? 0-21-1 before last night, if memory serves.
We played the kind of game we needed to play to win, pretty much to the letter. The defense generally played tight, pounced on rebounds (of which there were many), and got bailed out by Hutton when there was a breakdown. It helped that Vancouver couldn't execute in the slightest, especially in the six-minute perpetual penalty kill at the end of the first. That might have been the worst 20 minutes I've ever seen Hamhuis play.
Del Zotto played well. He made some good defensive plays when the pressure was on, and his passing was generally strong. He was our #4 based on even strength TOI, but got no special teams time (Trotz said postgame this is coming later). Trotz dropped him (and Ellis) off the end of the bench with about 6 minutes left.
Spaling is really coming on; he's fourth among our forwards in scoring in January. He hit a pinhead to set up Smith's goal and got himself in front of the net a la Hornqvist on the game-winner. He did all that, played nearly 5 minutes of shorthanded time, and had a generally excellent game, and he didn't even get one of the three stars. Media.