Three Stars:
- Andrew Shaw, 1 G
- Scott Darling, 31 Saves
- Artemi Panarin, 1 A
Are we seriously not going to let Shaw, who was on the ice for both goals last night, into the shootout? I know he hasn’t been finishing but neither did Kane or Panarin. At least Shaw scored last night. Let’s get into it.
This is a game where defense was the difference. Erik Gustaffson got hurt and he only played 6 minutes, which meant that two players needed to step up: Duncan Keith, always reliable, and Trevor Van Reimsdyk, who played 28 minutes. It seems Q has figured out his preferences for young defensemen, and going forward it’ll be Van Reimsdyk who needs to step up as our big three hit and go over thirty.
The fourth line was the only line who found any scoring momentum. Because of this, they saw much more ice time than per the norm, which is a good thing. The more ice time you give players the more chances you give them to impress, and the fourth line did.
The Kane hit was a perfectly legal hit… that could have cost us our biggest player going into the playoffs. I was relieved to see Kane get up from that hit. I was even more impressed by Panarin just grabbing Dumba and wailing on him. That’s going to leave a mark in Kane’s mind, and the bond between Kane and Pan Pan is just going to get stronger. It was a dumb penalty that will contribute more to the team going forward.
We need to continue beating teams. We’ve allowed Minnesota back into the playoffs, and I would much rather have the Avalanche face off and try to destroy the Stars. The Blackhawks are going to the playoffs, but it will be at the second or third slot, either way we get the Blues, so look forward to Tarasenko.
We lost another shootout, although this one is because everybody missed. Finishing on breakaways will be an important task in the playoffs, and hopefully we’ve learned our lesson from this game. Also, there are no shootouts in playoff hockey and Crawford is the best goaltender on breakaways. So we won’t be losing any more of those in the near future.
We’re in the final ten games. How we finish will determine how hot we get in the playoffs. Don’t expect us to truly heat up til the final five games, coincidentally when we get Kruger back. A full healthy squad will look much more improved and much deeper, especially with two fourth line wingers instead of three.