Video will be at this link when it is done. Shows less than two hours so keep an eye on it.
Just getting around to watching most of these games, thanks again to The Note in MI for the uploads!
If anyone wants to see Thomas (36) completely tool Necas (88), skip to around 10:15...wins face off then his puck protection + edge work along the boards has Necas spinning in circles.
EDIT: I will edit this post with more reactions as the game progresses.
- 12:15 CAR goal...Fitz should've had, but Tucker (75) had horrible coverage. He tried to step up a bit in the neutral zone but didn't have the skating/hustle to make it back and cover for Noel when he also stepped up at the blueline. Tucker's man end up all alone in the slot with the puck on his stick. All around poor defensive play, but particularly poor by Tucker IMO.
- 13:50...very effective shift by Musil on the forecheck. Disrupted 3-4 plays in the o-zone in less than a minute.
- 16:35 CAR PP goal...faceoff win by Musil but Bourque fails to clear. CAR gets set up and completes a nice passing play. STL PK looks pretty lost, lot of chasing out of position. Fitz probably should have had better rebound control.
- 21:00...poor defensive coverage by Walman leads to a juicy chance in the slot for CAR. Nice stop by Fitz.
- 22:55...Tucker easily beat wide leading to a dangerous chance. I knew the knock on him was his skating, but yikes that was awful.
- 23:48...big whiff on a pass leads to a dangerous turnover and Bourque taking a dumb tripping penalty. STL PK looks much better and is able to kill it off.
- 26:40...nice rush by Walman called offside but looked good to me. That kid has legit wheels.
- 28:00...nice rush by Bokk, but wish he would get the puck deep or hard around the boards there instead of throwing it back to the point. Not a bad play necessarily, but it would probably work better on larger ice.
- 29:20...STL PP looks excellent but cannot finish on multiple chances.
- 32:50...end of 1st Period. Random thought: Reinke sure does love the J-Bouw shot pass.
Have some actual work to do today (lol) but will update with further time stamped reactions later.