Just got back from the game.
What a crazy game. I still can't believe they came back from a two goal deficit in the third period.
The Good:
- Howse played with a ton of heart tonight. He was incredibly physical on that fourth line with P3L and Patterson. In fact, he was the most physical of his three linemates. He laid out some huge hits on guys and even drew a penalty because of a Bulldog reacting to Howse's hit.
- Breen was very physical as well. He always seems to have his stick in the proper spot to either take away a passing lane of deflect a shot. He's coming along.
- Byron was speedy and shifty as usual. Intercepting a few passes and generating scoring chances. He came really close to scoring a goal to end the game in overtime with only 4 seconds left.
- As much as I dislike Wilson, boy was he good tonight. He had a team high 8 shots on net tonight, scoring the game tying goal with less than 7 minutes left in the game.
- Mikkelson plays great every game both defensively and offensively. Tonight was no different.
- Sylvester was excellent tonight. He collected 2 points tonight and now has 8 points in the last 7 games. He seems to be a great pickup.
The Bad:
- Henry was downright awful tonight. Just atrocious. He made a couple of positioning mistakes early and it snowballed from there. He out of position a ton tonight. He's the primary reason Hamilton scored their first two goals.
- Negrin wasn't very good either. I hate to say it, but those mechanical knees of his have definitely hindered the phenomenal skating ability that got him drafted. I have hope that he'll become a top prospect again, but I highly doubt it.
- When the team needed a momentum shift, usually Ward likes to see a fight to get the team sparked. P3L didn't deliver. While P3L didn't play bad, he didn't do what he was supposed to do when he was expected to do it haha.
Overall, it was fun game to watch. The crowd got really into it during the third period and there was a good atmosphere in there tonight (attendance was 3200).
Regarding Wahl. I wasn't trying to pay attention to him, but it was hard not to tonight. When he came on for his first shift of the night he laid two big hits on Sylvester (maybe he's a little bitter for taking his spot in the top 6
). Not only that, but he was the only shooter for the Bulldogs to score in the shootout tonight.