I just never thought in a million years we'd be getting as much as we have from Budaj so it's a shame our scoring woes are back though some of those are obviously due to injuries as well--not including those that Sutter alluded to but we aren't sure about (Drew was banged up confirmed, we think Muzzin is injured, Toffoli, Kopi's arm, etc.). We really just need full health. We're not a deep enough team offensively to be losing any power from our top guys, but there's really nothing DL can do but play out the string. I'm proud of our bottom six for their responses and of Carter for beasting out (and Martinez to a degree) but their role is as energy and possession--they're killing it there but can only do so much lifting. The rest is busted in Kopitar's arm right now.
Now that the schedule will ease up for the bit I'm still hoping for the best and I'm sticking with my predictions and I 100% believe this is a playoff team in the end. I have to believe that some of our luck is going to break right--I mean, look at some of the poor luck Kopitar has had lately vs., say, Cam Atkinson banking pucks off three dudes and in.
The Red Wings game had nothing to do with any of the above, though. It was just the latest in a series of disappointing games vs. opponents low in the standings who of course start showing signs of life vs. us while we're unprepared.
