Such a wild, fun game. That was one of those where when we went into OT, I said out loud "I'll take the point and be happy no matter the outcome". Sure enough, us losing in a shootout sucks but it means nothing in the grand scheme. We played our hearts out in the third and I'm proud of the boys. That game had 5-1 loss written all over it after 40 minutes.
Andersen, my God. How is it possible to let in so many bad shots but also make some incredible saves? Such a strange result. My statement before still stands of "when was the last time we out-goalied the other team", but at least Kochetkov 100% did that against the Leafs. So there's at least one example this calendar year. But Andersen last afternoon definitely decreased my confidence in him this playoffs.
The boys definitely need a break. I give them a lot of credit for battling. They really really need a few nights off. I hope they don't practice much this week. I really wish there was a week gap going into the playoffs, maybe even with a wild card seeding game, than force them right back out there for game 83 like 3 days after the regular season. Last year we played 4/28 and then played 5/2 against Boston game 1.
Aho is an elite talent and we must keep him. I don't buy the rhetoric of him going invisible for parts of game. I think he looks just like any other superstar forward out there. Not McDavid, I guess. He relies less on the powerplay than most other superstars, which also implies he's more of a 5v5 impact guy.
We pour on the shots from everywhere, but I believe this helps the team get in their game. They spam shots and look for tips and rebounds but it helps the forwards get more confident. You feel it. The players get more excited and animated. It's different from the Bill Peters era I think in that the guys pass it is really well and move around the zone a lot to create space.
