So as promised here are my thoughts. Man I love going to exciting games like that, even if they start super slow. So it was a goalie duel through and through, Kulbakov being the better of the two tonight. Johansson did just about as much as you could ask for though, despite a pretty weak 2nd goal as well as a weak one in the shootout. I still don't think he has a future in the NHL. This team is already missing Redmond's scoring touch. Tennyson missed the net several times while being slotted into Redmond's spot on the 1st PP unit, Redmond doesn't miss those.
Defense was sloppy, giving up a lot of odd-man rushes early in the game, thankfully Utica wasn't able to make any of them count. None of them really stood out in a good way, besides Hickey breaking up a 2-on-1 and Tenny getting the tying goal late.
The forward line of Olofsson-Asplund-O'Regan is extremely potent, they had many chances throughout the night, and accounted for the first goal they scored. On the topic of O'Regan, he's had a fantastic season for the Amerks so far and might just have a future in Buffalo yet. Asplund was snake bitten tonight, missing on a lot of really good chances including a miss on a wide open net in OT which had him smashing his stick against the glass in frustration. Nylander heard his shot totals were lacking and decided to shoot a lot more tonight, too bad most of his shots were from low danger areas after entering the zone and nobody was every around to put in a rebound.
Olofsson is a by the book definition of a sniper, he scores more than he doesn't in the shootout. CJ Smith had a rough night overall. A lot of things didn't go his way, whether it was fanning on a wide open shot from the circle or falling down on a clean breakaway in OT, thankfully he made up for it with a goal in the shootout.
The Amerks recorded 50 shots on goal which makes it the 2nd game in the last 3 that they've recorded at least 50. They now sit pretty comfortably on top of the North division standings, Syracuse and Utica are both 4 points back.