I know this will be destroyed, but I’m not that salty about this game.
Took penalties, got in a hole early, couldn’t score on the PP...it was a different feel than the garbage of yesteryear.
Who in the room stands up when they get in such a hole? Who is prepared to help talk the guys out of the feeling of “here we go again!”...? None of the letter wearers fit the bill, they need game and playoff experience themselves. It’s going to take time for everything to come together.
The key difference for me - and again, I know this will get Flamed - is the movement of the guys (particularly the wingers) when they don’t have the puck. I saw churning, I saw stops and Starts. I saw sticks used as an asset and not a flailing seatbelt for one’s waist.
I think what I’m trying to say is that this kind of 6-1 loss is a billion times more tolerable than the one of dejection we saw 68x last season. We lost every single loose puck battle, which reeks of last season on the surface... but instead of losing the battles because we arrive late or behind, or the wrong guy arrives, we lost a lot to bounces and **** puck luck.
It doesn’t change the notion that it’s not even close to good enough. But relative to what we’ve been for such an extended period of time, I’ll take this over other stuff.
this is concerning, as it obviously was taken as a shot by Housley...since coaches and players seldom oppose each other on those sides of the debate. If anything it’s usuallg the other way around - coach Hates practice but players didn’t think it was bad
It doesn’t bode well for Housley that the alternate captain is so freely speaking negatively about the practice, no matter if he says he meant it pertaining to the players’ effort level or competitiveness, not as a slight to the plan or to the head coach. It’s absolutely the latter. It worries me, as you don’t really show those kinds of armor chinks in public if you’re fully on board with your coach.