OT win! Uneventful OT but thankfully closed it off. Much better 3rd period, I think they outshot Iowa 13-4
Coach Watson questionable line decisions before the game splitting up last game's dominant Mazur/Danielson/Shine line, putting Watson with the other two and moving Mazur to line 1. He moved Mazur off PP1 as well
Team was making some downright boneheaded plays defensively and not clearing the puck cleanly and it eventually began to cost them
Bad effort on the 5 on 3 they had. Shots getting blocked and barely tested Hlavaj. ONE shot on net. Stop getting too cute... just SHOOT the puck. Snively did score on a PP in the 3rd on a nice shot. Iowa is dead last in the AHL on the PK. We get so spoiled watching the Red Wings PP lmao...
Danielson: A-
• Fed Shine who just missed right in close on the first PP. End of the 1st he fanned on a shot but then corralled it to Shine who had a wide open net and shot it through the crease
Wheeled around to the blueline and let one go to which Snively tipped it off his screen for the first goal
Here and there on the PP was a bit hesitant passing the puck
Fed Watson cross ice in the early 3rd who had all day in the slot and somehow his shot deflected out of play... Watson's been taking longer to get his slower
Ugh ironically (see Danielson thread today) he made that centering rush pass on the last PP and it got easily picked off. However they got back in and he had a great chance in the slot but Hlavaj came up big with a high shoulder save
Cossa: B+
• So composed in net and doesn't need a lot of movement. When he does move he's quick and doesn't over-commit. Tracking the puck well from distance too
See Wallinder Re: first goal against
No idea how the 2nd goal got through him. Weird looking goal that kinda got shoveled past him or deflected off Dries
3rd goal Didier had 100 years to clear the puck and decided to drop it back and get intercepted, Wild 15 seconds later made him pay on the PP. Would have liked him to snag that with the glove
Man at the end of the 1st he missed stopping the puck going through his crease and the Wild player right on his doorstep tried to fire it home but Cossa made an unreal recovery save and laid down on the rebound lol
Very nice point blank pad save to start the 2nd
Mazur: A-
• He's so good. Future NHLer in some capacity. Hopefully he gets a shot with Detroit and runs with it. He's good defensively IMO and doesn't give up on a puck
Period 1 he hunted down the defender, incepted the pass on the attempted clear, then batted the puck down to himself which kept the zone and 15 seconds later led to the Griffins first goal
He fed Snively on the PP who hit the crossbar. Snively was super excellent today
Mazur has a quick deceptive release that he will let go from even an angle being somewhat flat footed. He could do well shooting off pads more maybe being paired with some crease crashers
Wallinder: C
• Almost gave him a C- to be honest. He got an assist on Snively's PP snipe. First Griffins goal against - took the puck carrier on a 3 on 1 instead of lying down to cut off the angle from both passers... Made a terrible looking kneeling play as the puck carrier fed the far side and Cossa had little chance against it
Once again showing poor passing ability using the boards multiple times this game including the start of the 2nd where he failed to connect a clean pass across ice to Tuomisto and the Wild gain control, held the zone. Immediately after this, he has enough time and space but sends a god awful flubbed chip barely to the half-wall where Iowa kept hemming in the Griffins. Him and Tuomisto couldn't get off and resulted in Wallinder getting forechecked hard cause he was tired, made a couple soft plays where the puck squirted to Cossa and he scrambled to cover it for a much needed whistle
Aimlessly goes for a rush and skates into a Wild player, falls on his back, and the Wild went the other way only briefly, thankfully
Just gonna throw an observation out there: he seemingly has really odd, uncomfortable looking body language
In OT he looks somewhat comfortable again. He's used to more space on the ice like in Europe and I'm not sure he ever figures it out in North America. There's a lot I just don't like here, including his passing ability and vision
Buium: B
• Quiet game I'd say, but he had one shift all over Iowa took a spinning shot that Hlavaj barely got a pad on
Tuomisto: A-
• Got a feed from Danielson on a rush and made a nice move to cut past the D and get a shot off. He's surprisingly nifty with the puck here and there you'll see him apply some calculated puck skills
Shooter mentality once again, good to see. He was solid defensively using his size, cutting down the space his attackers had
Becher: A-
• Assist on the Snively PP goal. The next shift he had, anticipated and then picked off a pass on the right wall and took a hot wrist shot but it was in the upper chest of Hlavaj
Hustling back defensively to mitigate odd-man rushes. He's showing nice breakout ability after recovering the puck defensivelyy too. Smart player along the boards, but doesn't lose his spot in the middle. Talking about both zones. Another good game for the kid
