Gotta stop dumping on Phaneuf after a night when he was good. If he played all year the way he did last night, I'd be good with it. Moved the puck well, played good defence and threw a big hit that drew a penalty trying to wake up the brutal top two lines.
He wasnt that good in the previous games (although Hunwick didnt do him any favours) and deserves to be criticized for his play then but some around here show their agendas when they dump on him when the does well. If Phaneuf had played as poorly as Rielly did last night, there would be an online petition to trade him, I swear.
The vets on the top lines should be the focus of any rage around here and talking about Phaneuf in a negative light based on his play last night is a waste of time.
I agree with you that it is lazy and unfair to always point the finger at Dion, but I wouldn't say he was anything close to "good" last night. Average maybe? He was exposed many times last night by guys driving wide, he takes terrible routes to retrieve pucks and routinely just allows guys to win races to pucks, which leads to pressure in our zone. Gardiner is the same way, they just allow the opposing forward to get on loose pucks first, and then it's full out defend mode. Doesn't help our D half the time just ring the puck around the boards which makes the wingers job a mess.
Dion is okay at moving the puck when he has no pressure on him, but that rarely happens. He has no foot speed, is a below average skater and he thinks the game at the same pace most of the time. I'll admit last night he wasn't his worst, but I would have a tough time saying he was good.
Rielly wasn't any good last night either though, you're right. He blinds the fans who don't watch the game very deeply with the odd nice rush up the ice and his escapability, but he makes bad decisions with the puck in transition and he doesn't defend very well. He got made a fool by Evan Rodrigues last night, who played college hockey last year. And some think Rielly is a number 1 D man. Just goes to show you many people only really see what they want to see and have pre conceived notions on players that they can't break, no matter how poorly they play.
People need to stop claiming players play "good" when they create a few scoring chances and make a flashy play that sticks out, but then turn the puck over 10-15 times, are soft on the puck. That is not a good game, it is just a player having a few good moments but an overall ineffective game. I've seen people say Rielly was good last night because he skated the puck up ice a few times. Like come on, the expectations need to be higher. Not saying Rielly isn't a good and promising defender, but he isn't a god and has a lot of room to improve. Same with Gardiner.