Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan Coke
Is it just me or did the D seem more active this game than the last 140 games or so? They seemed to be jumping up all night, playing like the D we expected. I wonder if there has been some relaxing of the limits placed upon them.
Funny how our slow team didn’t look as slow tonight either.
Brodie looked more like we expected from him tonight. Would it ever be nice for him to play like that consistently. A couple of years ago he looked like a #1 in the making, this year he’s barely hanging on as a top 4 guy.
Feel bad for Gillies, but he was fighting it all night. I would’ve pulled him after the first 2. Hopefully Rittich can get back to how had played most of the year behind Smith.
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They fell down early 2-0 then Gio was Gio and decided he wasn't going down without a fight. Before his goal he jumped up and got that pass from Monahan and couldn't convert (crashed into end boards).
After that Brodie was jumping up too (Tkachuk gave him that great feed) I was thinking there must be some hole in how the Pens defend as the left side D was really able to walk in.
I just think the desperation of being down 2-0, Gio leading the way and it actually working by pushing PIT back on their heels had the D jumping up.
Actually Hamonic made some great passes to allow guys to attack from the middle of the ice and they generated zone time and quality chances. When the D are jumping up and the team attacks the middle of the ice it works wonders.
What has happened way too often for some reason is the pattern of the Flames attack: D to D and then up along the boards. Pucks go into attacking zone along the boards and then if recovered it gets sent back to the point for some wristers.
This is indicative of a lack of confidence so you do the safe play, go up the boards.
Gio is hands down the best defenceman on the team and the heart and soul of it too. He willed them back into this game.