Doing this all on my cell so expect some weird autocorrect errors, sorry!
Bears win again against the leauges best team today in a shootout. Walker ripped a wrister home in a 5 round shootout. Vitek stopped all 5 shooters. They looked disjointed for the first half of the game as they struggled with zone entry. Besides a couple Sgarbossa chances and a nice Walker chance they generated nothing high risk until Siegenthaler tied the game at 1 halfway through the second. Their power play also continued to be rough. Fortunately their PK was really really good. Star of the game was easily Vanacek, he was outstanding today and stole the game for them as they continue to climb out of the basement and into the playoffs. Color me shocked, didn't think I'd ever see them with an 11 game point streak this season.
Bears team speed is what broke the game open and swung the momentum their way. I still stand by the fact we've made a conscious decision in DC to draft speed and try to develop other parts of players games. Hershey is a tremendously fast team and when their in sync, making smart passes and clicking they're really fun to watch. The way they battled back and tied it with the goalie pulled shows that maybe being young isn't all bad, they're not smart enough to quit. Hah.
Barber continues to look like he wants a shot in the NHL. I'm still not sure if he's just going to be one of those guys who excels at the AHL but never translates or not. Would love to see him get some games at some point but if we're in a really tight race in the metro I'm not sure there's going to be a chance. Scored a 6-5 on sharp angle goal to tie it up at 2 and send it to OT. Just flung it at the net and hit a defenders stick. Ugly goal but he's a 20 goal scorer again.
Gersich continues to do all the right things. I almost feel bad for him his production is down so low, he's played a lot better than his numbers indicate. His boardwork in the corner won him a battle and got him a primary assist on Siegenthalers goal. He also made a fantastic pass on a 2-1 that Megna couldn't finish. He ripped off a Checker behind the net and skated out front alone but dished instead of shooting. He really forechecks well for someone I initially thought was one dimensional in college(shows how much I know).
Both Pihno and Pilon are really growing on me, they're starting to figure out what you need to do to be a center in pro hockey. Although Pihno has been playing some winger recently.
Ikonen is pretty tough for a little guy, he's surprisingly gritty. Got a shift on the first line tonight and didn't look out of place after special teams shook up the lines. Perhaps an experiment that could work when they need some offense late in games.
LuJo looked pretty good again, especially for his second game after that long off. Him and Hobbs definitely have chemistry. Made a solid defensive play against a 2 on 1 where the puck was in his feet and he managed to battle off both players and swat the puck away. One turnover I didn't like from him in the third. Tried to take the puck to his backhand in his own zone to skate through someone instead of staying on his forehand and moving the puck to another teammate. Made up for it with a hell of a play in OT chasing down a guy on a breakaway from behind, getting position and sweeping the puck away from him. Man he can skate and it looks effortless.
In contrast, Hobbs footspeed concerns me. Watched someone just completely blow by him, both skating straight ahead. He then got crossed up and put his partner in a bad position and it lead to a backchecker(Whitney) taking a smart penalty to save a wide open goal. It ended up costing the Bears a goal anyways on the PK. If he's going to make it to the NHL he's going to have to be a lot smarter positionally to cover for his lack of straight line speed.
Siegenthaler looked better than he has all season(in the AHL). Positionally sound, smart passes instead of the bone headed turnovers we saw before his callup. He scored the Bears first goal by walking the point and changing the angle of his shot. Beat the goalie just under the bar with a wrister. Heck of a shot off the nice board battle win by Gersich. Did take a dumb penalty in the third, he hammered someone in the numbers.
Malenstyn continues to hit everything in sight and hit violently. Him and Walker together makes that a fun line to watch. They're like heat seaking missiles just hammering everybody on the forecheck. Beck also had a nice speed rush where he beat the defender wide and cut to the net alone for a nice chance. He's a great PKer, and does well anticipating shots so he blocks a lot of them.