Gus
Brunner
Eaves
I thought Eaves played his best game in a LONG time. He was aggressive in front of the net and thus got rewarded with the deflection goal.
Brunner played well defensively, oddly enough. He did well.
Monster was big, solid, and calm. Great game by him. He needs to play more when healthy. Gives Howie a chance to rest from time to time.
I might be the minority, but I thought Smith played better. He seems to second guess himself at times and is obviously hurting his game. He's skated much better I thought, though.
Voted Gus, Kronner, Ericsson. Great game by the monster and I think our Swedish defencemen complement each other really nicely.
Agreed on Smith, I think he's slowly getting more comfortable out there. Good active stick tonight and he was getting involved in the attack more, which is a real positive.
Brunner looked good too, kept his feet moving, made a nice backcheck and had a couple of chances. And of course got us the two points. Tatar is still hustling out there too, that 3rd line with Andersson and Eaves is solid.
Lashoff seems much better as a 5-6 guy as well
Negatives: One or both of Abby or Cleary needs to get off the second line. Neither brings anything remotely resembling offence, and both made glaring defensive errors last night. I'm pretty sure Dats doesn't trust them either, he's trying to do it all himself right now. I'm fine with Cleary as a PP specialist playing limited minutes but he simply isn't a top six forward. (Yeah, I know I'm preaching to the choir here).
Franzen wasn't great either.