Basically all the guys that made them successful last season have started the season with a sputter outside of Gaudreau, who can only do so much. I'm happy that Monahan is hitting but I wish we could have a Monahan who can dictate the tempo of play.
The defense should be fine with Kylington in over Stone, who's a great player when you want to spend a lot of time in your own end and mess up attacking rhythm from two otherwise good pairs (1st and 3rd). They need much more from Hanifin and Hamonic.
The game itself was mostly close but the Flames could not impose their will in the third, when it mattered most.
A pretty mediocre start to the season overall, but they have some time to figure it out and the broad trend has been toward improvement.
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