The US obviously struggled today. The whole team seemed to be fighting it a little bit. The goaltending was average, a lot of the goals scored against the US were high quality chances, but it would have helped if the goalies could have made a big save along the way. The powerplay was a problem for the US today. Outside of zone time and a few chances they were pretty dismal on the powerplay.
As far as Gaudreau goes, he also was fighting it a bit today as well. You can tell he has skill, when he had the puck on the powerplay he was very dynamic and often did create good chances. One thing I have noticed is that he excels at carrying the puck in and letting the team set up. He can draw the defenders back and create space allowing his team mates to get open. I don't think I saw the team fail at getting set up in the zone when he carried the puck in.
Outside of the powerplay he didn't really do much. Neither did anyone. As stated, they had a lot of perimeter shots but the team failed to generate high quality scoring chances. Everyone including Gaudreau lost a lot of puck battles, which is one of the many reasons why the US struggled to generate good chances.
If anything, I think this serves to help temper our expectations of Gaudreau. He will have to get bigger, faster and stronger in order to fully utilize his skill at the NHL level. I still think he will make the team next year, and I think he will put up points, especially if he plays on the powerplay. But if he is to be successful, especially in 5v5 situations, he has a bit of work to do.
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