Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
Huh, ... don't agree.
He's had two breakaways and failed to score, another where he was tripped (stumbled), and then two late game plays on his stick. One he should have scored (game one), the other he made a bad call and passed up a shooting opportunity.
You don't get those chances by playing perimeter or not waking up. Give me three scoring chances for skilled players a game and I like their chances. Just not getting the bounces right now.
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Gaudreau's VERY quick to pass the puck at the moment. There is both good and bad in that.
The Good: He is connecting with the majority of his passes. Many are to places where the Ducks are not expecting (or even identifying). The puck movement when he makes these passes is exceptionally quick as well. Ducks can't cover the whole ice.
The Bad: His threat to score, particularly in even-man situations, is correspondingly diminished when he's so quick to pass. (So much so that a shot in a 5-5 situation at this point might shock the hell out of the goalie.) He's not shooting except in obvious situations (and even perhaps not then at least once in game 2).
That said, he's not playing "badly". There is just so re-emphasis he could stand to try (attempt a couple of shots to keep the Ducks more honest against him). If he had scored on either of his breakaways or on the 5 on 3 - and normally he would have at least one of those three - it'd probably be a different tune on here right now about him.
EDIT: I suppose a legit criticism of him would be that when that line gets hemmed in defensively, although he does play his position, he's not much assistance in getting the puck out along the boards. However, that's not new for him. Short of suddenly discovering his Kryptonian heritage or getting bit by a radioactive spider there's not much a guy his size can do on the back end to physcially dominate guys like Kesler, Getzlaf and Perry.