What was so hard about that?
A rhetorical question I've been know to utter after striping a driver down the middle of the fairway for the full 220 yds - typically on the heels of screaming disaster of a shot deep into the heart of whatever local contrivance was put there to frustrate and irritate a mid to high handicap golfer.
All eighteen skaters were on their game last night. A solid - if somewhat underperforming - Shark pod looking to kick off an extended road trip on a positive note was contained and neutralized.
Varly got a big confidence booster - pitching a shutout in two periods of relief for Theo who was suffering back spasms.
As mentioned in the prior post I've been anxious to see Ovechkin and Knuble team up - my expectation all summer was that they would be flanking Backstrom - I think that's an unstoppable combination - one we're not likely to see anytime soon as Semin seems to need Backstrom's support on the second line. No matter, BMo is a quality veteran center who knows how to leverage that kid of talent on his wings.
For a fun change of pace it was the opposition in deep penalty trouble as the Sharks took four in rapid succession in the first period leading to a 5 on 3 opportunity and the first goal.
Question: Its not clear to me why most teams on the two man advantage collapse down to the net. I get that you'd rather shoot from 16 feet instead of 45 but when the points are standing 25 feet out and just 20 feet from each other it leaves a much smaller area for three men to defend. It took a perfectly saucered pass through a minor thicket of sticks to score last nights goal.
Doesn't it make more sense to have two forwards jamming the net leaving a 3 on 2 out high with more passing lanes to set up a clean 30 foot shot with screen and rebound opportunities? But that's just me.
The only down side to my eye was that the PP unit still seems to be off their game - they just can't seem to find that open shot or make the perfect stick side pass.
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