Twist and Shout
Registered User
Give us your thoughts after the game? Would be nice, especially if you'll be in attendance.
Extremely disappointed in what I saw today. To be honest, I paid the price of admission mainly to watch Kapanen and Virtanen so I was closely watching each of their shifts.
The overall impression I got from Virtanen's play was one of "indifference". He clearly didn't care to play today. Shift after shift he camped up behind the play (even as the Marlies were on the attack for the majority of the shifts he took) waiting for a pass that never came. To be honest, it looked like his teammates chose not to pass to him but really he was just completely out of position more often than not.
I doubt he played more than 12 minutes - there were 6-8 minute chunks in the first and second period where I didn't see him out at all (not sure if he went to the dressing room, or was benched, or was plain tired).
His conditioning seems abysmal - he was always the first person off his line to make a change, on a couple of occasions even leaving his linemates in the offensive zone and heading back to the bench mid-shift.
I also felt he was a couple of steps behind the play physically as the 2-3 hits he attempted came late after the play had already progressed.
I believe he had one good play in the entire game when he mishandled a pass in front of the net, circled around and took a shot from the other side after no one challenged him on the perimeter. I also recall one PP shift (on the second unit) when he had a decent point shot.
Was this the impression of him on TV as well? Didn't look like the Jake of old, and although he wasn't the worst player on the ice he showed absolutely nothing.
He still has time but I hope he shows some real improvement in the next couple of months...