I think if we want to make the play offs, we need to upgrade our 3rd defensive pairing. Engelland is just awful, Smid has too many brain farts and Diaz...well, he is lucky to be a 7th defenseman on this team, because he wouldn't be that high with anyone else. Its getting to the stage now where those 3 are costing us a bad goal a night. Call Wotherspoon up already, he can't be as bad as these 3.
Oh and I'm sorry, but pulling Hiller with 15-20 seconds left at 3-1 down? Stupid. Losing 3-1 looks respectable, losing 4-1 looks like we got blown out. What I will give credit to the Leafs for was shutting down our defense and their attempts to create offence. Wideman, Russell and Gio had real trouble getting lanes to shoot the puck all game.
Just feel really sick. There was a good push from everyone tonight, but at the same time something just felt off about us. Too many passes didn't connect, too many moves broke down. After a decent first period, it took us 30 minutes to get ourselves properly set and going again. I hope Raymond gets up to speed in quick time, he was so rusty tonight and it really dragged his line mates down.
Was it me or did Hartley jiggle the lines up in the 3rd period? Can't work out if that actually did anything for us or not? Really disappointed with that. Pleased with the work ethic, but I just have this bitter taste in my mouth. Probably because we've lost to the Leafs.
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