The game wasn't a particularly fast moving one but some of the Hitmen boys really stepped up and played hard. Got a helping hand from a team with discipline issues in the second. Thought the officials called a good game (despite the home town booing of good calls in the third), and thats tough to say usually when one team takes 7 straight penalties in a period, restricting them to 1 shot.
Definitely can't complain about Rask, he is an elite talent and is always doing something out there. As other teams learn his game he is going to open a lot of ice for other players when defenders overplay him. Teams won't be able to let him go to open holes to receive passes, he just does too much with the puck on his stick.
Brassart had a strong two way game and really had a few great plays. Awesome forecheck on the PK in the third to take advantage of a lazy play by the Pats D. Then in the last little bit he dropped twice to block shooting lanes and I think contained Davison, who was amazing with the puck for the pats. I like Davison's little sauce over Brassart once in that last minute, Brassart played it pretty well bet Davison really put a nice touch on the puck. I thought Brassart was a physical presence all game.
Can't talk enough about Humphries, did he even leave the ice. Reminded me of the Kinch and Smith days when the Hitmen only had 2 D. Humphries was always out there and made some great plays with the puck. Showed good leadership directing traffic at a few points in the game. It was good he was playing well because Rissling was awful, he just looked flat out terrible. On the 2nd Pats goal he ran into Brassarts stick, made it look like he was shot and then got up and pushed a Pats player into Driedger. He looks like he doesn't even know there is a puck used in the game.
Macek was the other big forward for me. He was really on his game, he handled the puck well and created a ton of chances. That attempted toe drag around Hewitt in the 3rd was a nice move and would beat many aggressive WHL goalies, too bad Hewitt played it really smart and made the poke at the right time. Macek used that same aggressiveness in the shootout to score a beauty (better be on the opening video soon).
Finally goaltending has to get some attention. Driedger was terrible in the shootout, so I hope we don't do many of those. The book on him is skate in slow and put it between his legs I guess. But the rest of his game was pretty good. For the most part he was pretty square to the puck and did an ok job of absorbing pucks. He tracked the puck well through traffic and made a couple of really good saves on screens. For his first game after 2 months of recovery I won't complain too much I thought he was pretty solid. A definite upgrade over the guy with the baseball cap on. Might want that first goal back but at the same time Klimchuk is a sniper and why Roach would allow him to skate across the high slot and shoot is beyond me.
Its going to be a tough season if things don't get a little better. Can't choke a 3-1 game in 2:50 too often and not look like a bad team. A lot of that rests on the shoulders of the guys in suits. This team needs to be better prepared to be in that situation and we need to use our timeouts at better times. I know he wanted to rest a center for a big draw but it was bad bench management that lead to that. At that time the team had a ton of momentum from Brassarts forecheck on the PK and Macek came out of the box flying and created a good wide drive and shot. It would be nice if Willy let them play with the same players for more than 40 seconds in a game. These lines are way over handled and he just looks like a nervous coach by the constant juggling. Gogolev and Kirsch looked good together early on, so he breaks them up. Why? Kirsch was the invisible man all game, he had no chemistry with other linemates. And the truth was Gogolev was nothing special either. You find guys who click, why not use them together. Incredibly frustrating to watch players with talent and chemistry neutralized by over coaching.