Just one game, but it went a long way towards answering my biggest question and that was is the moment too big for Binnington and the early results are a resounding no. You’ve got the trash newspaper the day before the series starts, Scheifele’s attempt to run him (by the way had no idea he was such a dirty player. What the f*** was that last night???) and then the loud building booing and he’s just as calm and cool and collected as ever. It wasn’t just in the saves he made, but just his puck handling. Never in too big a hurry, didn’t get flustered. Very impressive.
As for the rest of the team, I of course will never say anything good about David Perron because he’s a bad player who takes terrible offensive zone minors. If I were to say something good about him though, I’d mention how impressive and aggressive he looked on the forecheck and the cycle and really did a nice job along with his linemates. They were the first line to get going in the game. But of course, I will not be saying such things.
Didn’t love Pietrangelo or Schenn’s game for different reasons. I thought Petro looked a little tentative especially early on and he seemed a little off, as opposed to a guy like Dunn who seemed to be on his toes and aggressive throughout.
Schenn got lucky more than once he didn’t get called for retaliatory penalties, including right off the hop when Scheifele hit Binnington. It’s a very fine line and he walked it tonight, but he can’t let the emotion overwhelm his game.
And finally, cannot say enough about Tyler Bozak and Pat Maroon. Both were outstanding throughout. Bozak easily could have had 2 or 3 goals and Maroon continued his second half surge. If the O’Reilly line is canceling out the Scheifele/Wheeler line (did Wheeler even show up? Don’t think I heard his name once), then you’ve got to get something out of the other lines and tonight we did.
Good start, the pressure is now squarely on the Jets in Game 2. I think there will be an initial surge again, but don’t take stupid penalties and trust your goalie and by the second period, you might see a really frustrated Jets team that is doubting themselves, doubting their coach, and silencing their own crowd.
Win Friday and we might be looking at a shorter series than originally thought.