It was a terrible game for our defensemen. Ekholm was the only one that seemed to have come to play. A couple of random observations.
Granlund was left to be the lone physical presence in front of Pekka and clear out Barkov and Hornqvist at times. He plays the game the right way and gives his utmost effort.
One of the worst stretch "passes" I've ever seen after almost an entire shift in our zone. With three Panthers in a triangle in the middle of the neutral zone, our D-man tried to pass from our left side goal line, thread it across ice, through the neutral zone, to a forward who was covered. At least that's who I assume he was trying to pass to, as the puck didn't come within 40 feet of another yellow jersey. 0% chance of success. Bad decision, instant turnover, brought right back into our zone, middle of the ice wide open, and forced the other 4 on the ice to scramble back at the end of their shift. Pekka bailed them out, but he shouldn't have had to. Preds need a system that gives actual support by getting people open, identifying the open skater, and passing them the puck on their tape, instead of rimming, lazy backward passes, and blindly flinging the puck to a spot with crossed fingers.
