My player review from the game:
- ROR is starting to solidify his game. He had the second most puck possession in my eyes. His passing was not as dynamic as we are accustomed to seeing. His defense was solid. I don’t think he is far off.
- Perron has a nice one timer, but the rest of the game he looked disengaged aside from some moments later in the game.
- Sanford was a bit of a mess. He was playing a very timid game (aside from the moments immediately after he was hit). He needs to get on the hunt a lot more.
- Schwartz probably had the most offensive zone possession of all the forwards. He was getting after pucks with more frequency than most. He didn’t do a whole lot with his puck possession, but it kept the puck off the oppositions stick. His stick handling was probably the best, followed by ROR. The whole team is really struggling with stick handling outside of those two.
- Schenn had some fleeting moments of good play. He just looks out of sync with his line mates. You can tell he was making an effort to be engaged, but sometimes the effort occurred at the wrong time to be effective. I think that once he has that “click” moment, he will be good to go.
- Tarasenko was pretty bad. Sort of to be expected given how long it’s been since he last played. But, he looked like a player with an exploding grenade on his stick, while skating in quick sand. It seemed like every time he got the puck, he was waiting for the defender to catch up (which didn’t take long). He doesn’t seem to have that explosive stride that once got him the space he needed to shoot. He hasn’t for a while though, preceding this latest injury. He really needs to lose weight on his legs and hips if he wants to get it back. He makes his teammates do a lot of extra work. It would be great if he could improve his skating to become more effective.
-Thomas has his spurts. He looked better as the game went on. But, I really want to see him get his swagger back. He obviously drives that line. I think just getting his feet moving more will help tremendously (that really goes for the whole team).
-Bozak was not geat. He had some nice moments later in the game, but he also had some significant defensive zone gaffs. We need him to be more steady and less of a liability.
- Blais was engaged, but I felt like most of his effort was wasted. He was missing a lot of the hits he threw, he was often behind the play and rarely made a good play with the puck on his stick. He had some good plays, but I was left wondering if someone not playing would have been better.
- Barbashev has one of the better games of any player on the team relative to his responsibilities. He was one of the hungriest puck hounds.
-Sunny played ok. He looked a bit slow relative to his normal speed, but he was pushing. He wasn’t carrying the puck as much as we are use to.
-Steen was largely ineffective. He was just too far behind the play too often. He did have a few decent moments, but he looks like he is plodding along out there.
- Petro had some very clumsy moments. His puck handling and stick work was was way off his fantastic usual self.
-Parayko was the most engaged and active D. But, he couldn’t seem to stick handle. He was also really slow to read when was the correct time to make a transition from skating backwards to forwards when an opponent was approaching. His timing and crossover was off.
-Faulk was fairly steady. He continues to make strange reads with the puck on his stick. There are instances where he has plenty of time and rushes a pass and other times where he has no time and takes too long to move the puck. It seems like he is constantly doing the opposite of what makes sense.
-Gunnerson and Scandella looked like the same player. Some solid D, but their breakout passing was ugly. Scandella was more active offensively. Although, I am not sure it contributed much.
-Dunn didn’t do a whole lot, but that is to be expected with so little practice time and this being his first game. He was steady, which is something we need to see from him moving forward defensively.
Binnington was good. I would like to see him watch how far he comes out in the crease. There were times that his positioning provided great opportunity for the Avalanche to do a goal line tap in with the right pass or bounce. That never really happened, so that was fortunate. Otherwise he had a really good game. It’s not easy for goalies to get up to speed fast. So, kudos there.
Overall, the defense was pretty good. The Blues neutralized Mac’s speed well, playing a good chunk of the game in the defensive zone will do that though (less rush transitions occurred as a result).
The offense, breakout, forechecking, skating and stick handeling need a lot of work.
EDIT: English...Do you speak it? (Enough said)