Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
I was going into the game expecting the effort/focus issue to come up. At least to start ... I think it crept in later.
Honestly it didn't. They played a pretty air tight first period and weren't rewarded for it.
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Bingo, respectfully I think that your take is a rose-coloured glasses one. The first period was abysmal from a structural perspective. They controlled play - and that is all. They failed to develop any pressure, sustained, close-in, net-front pressure. Their passing was terrible...East-West and even in their own zone there was a D-to-D pass that went off the back of some opponent's skate as they were clearing the zone to tag up. That is simply inattentive play.
That's what I saw a LOT of in that period. Sure - they weren't rewarded - but they also played like crap. The only thing that they did was have the puck more. But they really didn't do anything of consequence with that control.
After that it all just fell apart.