Ths three worst statistical players (all -3) werent our worst players. Here is my quick opinion on each(plus Demko):
Pearson is as slow as others who have seen him live have said. He broke up at least two plays by doing an impression of a log though...so not the worst offender. He almost nade some good plays too, that i think could have looked brilliant against a team that wasnt so, so, so, so, so much better than us.
Stetcher is not a top pairing D. No one claimed he was, but tonight demonstrated that thoroughly. He did what he could, but "enough" would have been far too much to ask of him.
Gaudette was our other -3, and I don't think he deserved to be, compared to other players anyway. Bad luck being on the ice, his contributions to the goals against were minimal and could have been anyone IMO.
Pouliot looked bad to me, a lot of give a ways and missed coverage. But by merit of his partner Biega getting two assists, he is only -1.
Markstrom was bad. Poor D for sure, but 5 in 16 at home? If this is his occasional bad game, yeah we got outplayed by a superior team, so it's not just him.
My last worst player was Eriksson tonight. I usually stand up for the guy, but tonight I couldn't think of one positive play for him all night. Beagle broke up some passes through stick work and skating and Motte hit a few players to break up plays. It wasn't a "4th line thing".
Demko looked better, but I think Vegas put the practice effort on after the hook. He did make a few saves that definitely should have been in, and I think we're just assumed would be. Kids still got time and room to grow.
But this game was men versus boys. This is what a cup contender looks like playing against a non-contender. They were faster, stronger, smarter and more motivated then us. Every time we went Icarus on them they let the sunshine, even after they took their foot off of the gas. I'm happily surprised we got two goals, I thought this game was going to be even worse than it was. A big game, a divisional rival, our team allegedly playing for its playoff life, televised on a national stage (I heard some very uninformed opinions second hand by the way)...sounds like a firing of the whole front office and coaching staff would be the next step to me.
For the love of all that's holy though, give Hughes time to practice and play with the team before throwing him into the fire though. Not just to be fair, but to ensure we don't play him more than 9 games. Not for this teams effort anyway.. .