Fun game - great to see Mangiapane play well, and Zadorov was a beast.
Lots of defensive zone time, but I think that came down to 2 things, both of which have been covered: one, they were hesitant at times, still unsure of who is doing what (which is no surprise, and just takes some time), and two, they just had too many turnovers (which is probably at least partly a result of the first point).
Not at all worried about it, and more importantly, I like it, as they gave up fewer chances where guys were WIDE open and had the goalie at their mercy. I think we are going to see a MUCH better Markstrom (and Vladar) this year, because the types of chances that they give up defensively aren't going to be as egregious. More shots against, but fewer goals against, I suspect.
As for the offense - loved the creativity and getting the puck to the middle of the ice. Some people have posted that they were lucky, and opportunistic last night, but I thought they did a great job of making things happen. They had fewer chances than the Jets, but I thought they had better ones.
Bottom line is, it's a win - something to feel good about and build on.
|