[Igottago]

Originally Posted by Firebot

My biggest issue by far from Gulutzan is not the Defense pairings. It's not the bad line matchup (he never once chose Backlund's line to play against McDavid).

It's the complete apathy shown from behind the bench when Gaudreau was mauled without a call, while McDavid was awarded a phantom penalty shot. Hartley would have taken a bench penalty for that, and you know what, you need to get some emotion going.

It's one game, but a lot of these issues seen last night should have been tinkered out of the lineup during preason instead of using the preseason to give tryouts to the likes of Higgins. The last game of the preseason should have been our full starting available lineup at the time.

We are playing 3 games in 4 nights with little time to adjust, and it's a long season, but as we saw last year, it can quickly be lost in the first few weeks.

Totally agree with this. There's been significant change in temperament behind the bench. Obvious way to early to judge it but it does seem a bit more casual. If the fire and passion isn't coming from behind the bench its got to come from the players. Gio might need to step up a bit more in being a vocal leader.