To repeat what a few others have said, Lucic literally provided more to this team in one game than Neal did all year last season IMO.
Neal coasted all season, barely putting an effort in at any point. He went out of his way to avoid contact despite having a physical/dirty reputation.
Meanwhile Lucic manhandled multiple Avalanche players, and immediately stood up for a teammate after a cheapshot. That's honestly not something we've seen much from this team for years. Lomberg last year going after Dumba comes to mind. Even Brouwer jumped somebody (Dustin Brown?) to stand up for Gio.
I loved seeing that from Lucic, not to mention his strong boardwork and actual hockey sense.
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