I'll say this first and foremost because I don't want anyone to think that I'm trying to say that having our missing regulars return is what will make this team elite or anything. However, everything that the team has been lacking to start the season, is everything that (in theory) our missing regulars are supposed to provide. We're missing Clarkson, Kulemin, Fraser and McLaren - those players mean we're lacking size, speed, puck possession, blocked shots, physicality, grittiness.
Despite how awful they played, that game was still salvageable on the scoreboard but they waited too late to do anything about it. Bernier's first two goals against weren't all that great but that was hardly the problem. He faced 40 shots and A LOT of them were high quality shots that he turned away and allowed his team to stay in the game. Every loss this season has come with a trend - this team has lost by committee. Anyone wanting to point fingers are just lamely looking for scapegoats. You can't expect to win when only a handful of players are showing up to play hard at the first drop of the puck. I believe this team is capable but they're relying on bad habits to see them through because they've been able to get away with it too often.
