Very similar to the NYR game in a lot of respects, but they scored 3.
Not a lot of compete out there tonight especially for loose pucks, which I'm sure we'll see alleviated when we play better teams. MTL has a great record so far, but if last night was any indication - they're just very good at attacking when you allow space. That'll be tough to maintain when teams start game playing you more, which I doubt any coach planned on doing this early in the season TBH.
Brodie was good outside of a costly penalty, but it was good to see some positive moves from Brodie last night. It was a small play, but in the 3rd I saw him stop up from a D-D pass and reversed up the boards instead. It was a quick, but very well read play that prevented a sure turnover - but is the kind of trap we've seen Brodie fall into all season so far. He's been outsmarted, even if his hands and feet have looked up to the task. Good to see him win a mind-battle there.
Few other quick points:
- Rittich - I'm very confident when he's back there. Like, grab another beer real quick while they're on the PK confident.
- Jankowski - Played with the most jam I've seen tonight. Took a couple lumps in the process, but didn't seem fazed. Really doesn't want to be the guy out again
- Andersson - He was the most versatile D tonight trying to get the offence moving. Gio and Hanifin seemed inspired and jumped in as well, but I noticed Andersson quite a bit when we needed to start changing the momentum
- Neal - What on Earth is going on here? You get the feeling that when they go in, they'll come in bunches but at the same time it also looks like he's lucky to even have had the scoring chances he's had. He came in wide open off the wing with a chance to turn the game around completely... and he shot wide. This well-paid vet needs to start helping this team win soon.
If I'm being honest, I'm happy we are coming out of NYR/MTL with 2 points and something to prove with PITT/WAS/TOR ahead of us.