coladin
Registered User
- Sep 18, 2009
- 11,819
- 4,507
Against a Columbus team hit by multiple injuries we still got outshot and, again, needed great goalkeeping to win. If the netminders stumble it could get ugly. Some thoughts on the game:
- some players have really picked it up lately (Michalek, Gryba) while a few others continue to add little (Legwand, Neil)
- Stone had a strong game with lots of very smart plays and his line with Lazar and Condra was solid
- Ryan could have had a couple but did not play well (that's kind of his game, I think)
- Boro isn't highly skilled but he's more skilled than I expected and is a very solid 5/6
- unlike many others, I did not think Cowen played well and offered more of the same (poor puck skill, not that physical); playing him with Karlsson (Mr. Wildcard) would seem to be a recipe for disaster; like Wiercioch before, I'd give him a run of 5 games and see if he makes any progress; I don't see a long-term future here unless he can grow out of the "big/immobile/unskilled" category because we have too many of those already
- Mika had a few chances but he's playing with zero confidence and almost no puck skill; not sure how you can survive as a 2nd-line centre without being able to pass or carry the puck well
The above sounds a little negative but I think we're much better than last year and have a chance to be quite a decent team with Methot back and if the younger players (Stone, Lazar, Hoffman, Pageau) claim ice-time from the older/slow/less effective players (we all know who they are)
A whole lot negative, actually. Maybe people are expecting Picassos instead of kindergarten finger painting. I just like winning. As Paulrus says: "A win is a win is a win is a win".
I don't think we should apologize for having great goaltending. Would you rather that we have average goaltending and outshoot them, but lose?