He was unlucky that the one mistake he made ended up in the back of the net. Sykora and Tallinder also blew coverage on that play, Weise was Sykora's man and shouldn't have been wide open in front of the net like that without the other defenceman on him.
Moreover, as Jason points out, on that play, Larsson was double teamed, hit from behind, and had his stick slashed out of his hands. Sykora gave him his stick, which was opposite handed. He should have dumped the puck up the boards instead of turning back into the double team, but that's one mistake and he'll learn.
On the positive side, Larsson had 4 strong shots on net, great puck movement from the point on the PP, created the Sykora goal with a great fake shot and pass to the open man in the slot, pinched successfully numerous times, and had some very strong defensive plays stand out, like when he rode Dubinsky to the end boards using his reach, preventing him from burning him and getting a partial break.
I was waiting for Sam and Joe to compliment McIlrath for the way he laced up his skates, they seemed to have exhausted every other thing they could praise him for.
McIlrath was good positionally, and he was very good with his physicality, but his skating is not his strength, and he isn't good offensively at all.
to those making their lists off of preseason games
