The game tonight was boring from the stand point that our arena is dead silent unless there is a big check, a goal or a fight. However, six goals is hard to say that it was a complete sleeper so I suppose I can say a few words.
First is about Gerber. I know I have been hard on his sloppy goaltending; that will not change. He was still popping out rebounds, but he actually did the one thing I have complained about for quite some time now and he actually stole a game. Yup. I will admit to that. Gerber played quite well. The defence, sadly, played like they were asleep and by the third period the entire team showed that they were off for eleven days.
Spezza ... Definitely leaving it there on the ice. He was much smarter this game and played a great up ice and a good down ice game. What else can I say? His numbers speak louder than my words, but he needs to show consistency before I get off his back.
Ruuuuuuuuutuuuuuuu ... Every game, every shift, every hit, shot and annoyance this guy does makes me giddy. Two goals in this game just added to the man-crush list and I am about ready to name my first born Jarkko.
Checking: The team needs to do a LOT more of it. We got stronger, grittier and tougher all around during the off season, but I didn't feel as though that were true. Take a lead from Volchenkov. He will knock a player on his rear, block a shot in the next transition and take shots on net. Now granted he has only scored 11 goals in his NHL career -- one of them coming tonight -- but he's a good example of a strong, punishing player. Oh and Vermette, helicoptering Fisher does not count as a check. ;)
More tomorrow when the Sens host Beantown. I hope that my next blog post doesn't have me returning to my annoyed rants about poor consistency.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment