FIRST PERIOD
Stromwall- Nieves - Kovacs are the starting line for the Pack. Gilmour and Graves on defense. Hellberg in the net.
Nieves with an early hit on a Hab to cause a turnover behind the net, great veteran-like play.
Glass is now #51 on the Pack to allow Hrivik to keep #15. Glass - Hrivik - Jensen are the second line.
Bodie is wearing a C. Don't think this was announced before.
McRae - Brown - Rambo are the third line.
Carey - Fogarty - Joly are the fourth line.
GOAL: Paliotta takes the puck at the blue line, fake slap shot, skates around a Baby Hab nicely displaying good skating, vision and stickhandling, pass to Rambo who deflects it in. Nice hands by Rambo. 1-0.
PENALTY: Paliotta takes a penalty. Gilmour dumps out the puck once, the Habs come back and he dumps it out again, then he causes another turnover as they try to enter the zone. Fogarty on the second PK unit. Bodie sends Kovacs on a shorthanded breakaway, nice move but stopped. Kenny G really giving rookies a chance on the PK, but it's killed off.
Brown on the a breakaway, but hits the crossbar.
Couple of good saves by Hellberg, but he had to make a good second save because he first left a big rebound.
PENALTY: Undisciplined move by Carey who got frustrated and shoved a guy elbow to the face. Not hard, but enough to get a PK. Gilmour lets a guy breeze by him. PK killed.
Brown, who caused the start of the original play that led to the goal again caused an offensive zone turnover with his hard work. Good job by him this period.
Kovacs with a dumb cross ice pass that was nearly identical to the turnover Butcher made yesterday causing the Isles to score a goal.
Stromwall looking good on offense.
GOAL: Hrivik with a totally braindead play throwing the puck between the circles on defense where a Hab was standing and it leads to a goal. If Hrivik wants to ever play in the NHL or even the KHL, this cannot happen again. Ever. For the rest of his career.
GOAL: Great pass by Brown to McRae who shoots like a real goalscorer. 2-1. Great period by Brown and McRae so far.
Nieves gets elbowed in the face. Stays down and the trainer comes onto the ice to treat him. Gets up and skates off on his own.
PENALTY: A Hab almost goes on a breakaway, Hughes chases him down, jumps and pulls him down. It's a penalty and was awfully close to a penalty shot, but the Hab was not clearly on the breakaway, so good timing by Hughes. Better a PK than a breakaway.
GOAL: Game tied on the PK. High glove side shot, hard and on point, but Hellberg should stop or at least react to those if he wants to be in the NHL. Kind of a waste of a 6th round pick, I don't see him as an NHLer, not even a backup.
Nieves looking good, but can't win a faceoff to save a life (that's common for rookies who are new to the pros).
SECOND PERIOD
Hughes with 2 nice keep ins as the Habs tried to clear the zone. Summers-Hughes is apparently the third pairing, which is phenomenal because in past years, they'd definitely be at least a second pair. They're great for an AHL third pair.
McRae with a dumb play causing an icing.
Kovacs with a steal in the offensive zone.
Graves has a hard, accurate shot, but he needs to get it off quicker.
Strom - Nieves - Kovacs are out there a lot. Looks like Kenny G expects to rely on them this season.
Jensen also on the ice a lot, but has been invisible so far. Hrivik tries hard, but looks like he's trying too hard, which is not working out.
Pack PP: Nieves obviously loses the faceoff, so it's dumped out. Graves firing the puck every time he sees it, but it's not going in because he takes too long to set up, giving the goalie the chance to get square. Paliotta knocks the puck out of mid-air to prevent a clearing. Killed.
Rambo looking better than last season.
Gilmour with a tricky shot that almost resulted in Carey scoring. Almost.
GOAL: I was about to write how good Nieves looks, but had to stop writing to watch him go around a guy and make a pass through the defenseman's legs to Kovacs who lifts it into the net. Beautiful pass, good shot. 3-2. Gilmour got the secondary assist.
2 on 1 for the Habs, nice glove save by Hell.
I know Hrivik has been switched from LW to C the last couple of years because he's the hockey version of a soccer midfielder, but he'd be better off back on the wing. I wrote this about Miller when they moved him to C and nobody agreed with me, but look now where he's been most successful. Hrivik would make the NHL much faster as a winger than center.
Habs try to jam the puck in, but Hell stops it. Closed the legs at last second as the puck was trickling in.
McRae tries to stickhandle, but it leads to a turnover in the Pack end.
Habs dominating the second period, but Hell is playing well.
Packers running around too much. I know fans love to have a team with a lot of rookies, but this is not good. Would be nice to add an adult capable of playing on the Pack top-6.
Rambo working hard, and more effective now than last season.
THIRD PERIOD
Nieves wins a faceoff! I think it's the first time I saw him do that.
GOAL: Nieves loses a faceoff, but the puck goes hard back and hits the goal post. Nieves drives to the net and scores. 4-2. Malte with an assist.
Nieves had a terrific, terrific game except for faceoffs. The whole line (Strom - Nieves - Kovacs) has been very good.
Even though Fogarty is technically the 4C, Carey is usually taking the faceoffs when the 4th line is on the ice.
A Hab stops in a way to give a snow shower to Hellberg, Graves takes offense to that and exchanges a few punches with the guy. Mutual penalties.
GOAL: A Hab overpowers Bodie to drive to the net and score. 4-3.
Hellberg with 2 more good saves. All things considered, good game by him.
GOAL: Bodie looking really good with the puck transporting it up the ice. Sends it from the left circle to the right circle in a perfect pass to the open Gilmour who fires it up high. Great play by Bodie, good shot by Gilmour. McRae with a secondary assist, which is his third point of the game. 5-3
PENALTY: Glass rushes the puck, pass to Jensen who can't handle it because he got hooked.
Strom catches a turnover and creates a scoring chance.
Pack PK: Glass let's a Hab breeze by him, but he does clear the puck. Good save by Hell later. Hrivik with a clear. Glass steals the puck in the offensive zone. Later Graves clears the puck. Killed.
Gilmour with a dumb play to cause a defensive turnover. He's been good on offense, not so much on defense.
Brown with a great pass to Rambo who had a partial breakaway, but was stopped. Graves got the rebound, but also stopped.
The top 3 lines for the Pack looked real good, but the fourth line has looked slower and less talented by a good margin.
Pack PP: Rambo stupidity led to a clear. Hrivik braindead play results in another clear. Killed.
Stromwall with a good rush, pass to Nieves, good shot, but a save.
EN GOAL: Glass blocks a shot, clears the puck, Jensen chases it down and makes a spin-o-rama pass to Hrivik in center ice with the net open. Easy goal for Hrivik, props to Jensen.
GAME: 6-3
