4-3 loss. Team has been full-on dog shit defensively lately. They're gonna get stomped in the playoffs. Felt bad for Cossa in this one as he set the tone and the team has a meltdown in the 3rd
Side note, I've been loving the 4th line lately, they're all big and can command the space around the ice even if they're not the most skilled. Johannes is a unit out there
Lines:
Lombardi - Dries - Doucet
Snively - Danielson - Gettinger
Finnie - Becher - Hanas
Bantle - Seger - Johannes
Wallinder - Tuomisto
Buium - Johansson
Viro - Rafferty
Cossa
Danielson: B
• Wasn't very good on the faceoff dot tonight
Creating space for himself along the boards very well. Unfortunately nothing really materialized at all
Went for a rush with the puck breaking into the zone goes around the net and feeds Dries open in the high slot, but the shot gets deflected wide
Escaping pressure defensively nicely even when an immediate option for support isn't available to him. Can hold onto the puck and make a really calm play without expelling hardly any energy
Cossa: A-
• You can't fault him for tonight... Honestly this team gifted Chicago all 4 goals and thus giving them the win tonight
Tonnes of big stops to the start the game as the Griffins wanted to make it hard on him apparently. Looked extremely poised and unflappable. Griffins made an errant drop pass on the PP and he stops the breakaway. That same PP expired and Rafferty made a bad pinch + penalized player came out of the box... 3 on 1 and Cossa makes a diving spread eagle stop and just got enough where the puck lands on the goal line and Griffins recover and get a whistle
1st goal Griffins break down in the OZ and a partial 2 on 1 gets Cossa sliding, then Tuomisto is too weak on his stick in front and the Chicago player gets a weak tap in goal on a gaping wide net
2nd goal was a well executed passing play to the bumper and he sniped
3rd was a complete defensive meltdown... No chance really
4th goal right after Lombardi fricken ties it... Just a joke of a scramble in front and Chicago jams the puck in on the post
Lombardi: A+
• Goaaaaaal! Displays superb patience on the 2 on 1, deceptive stick handle to freeze Martin and goes 5-hole
ANOTHER goal!!! Dries dangles and shows nice patience, backhand pass to Ammo who's just going to the paint and fighting off his checm, he gets a stick on it and gets it past Martin to tie the game and answer back quick
Dancing in the circle after retrieving the puck and feeds Doucet with a short pass and he shoots just over the net
Sent Johannes on a breakaway off a broken play in the NZ, Johannes almost goes top corner but a good save
Nice patience to pass in a 2 on 1 to feed Dries and he almost dangled out Martin but he denied him
Late 2nd he breaks in, goes inside-outside on the D and stays balanced on the outside leg with a guy pushing him off the puck to feed Johannes right in the slot but Martin stones him. He did it again mid 3rd and feeds Dries but shot gets deflected
Wallinder: B
• Showing off the hands and feet coordination to evade pressure inside the OZ blueline
He's definitely aggressive and I wonder about how that will work in the NHL. Under pressure, I also wonder about his reads with and without the puck, at least in the DZ. He play over the past couple months has instilled faith in me. I'd love if he became a shutdown guy. His play on PK is generally the most impressive part of his defensive game
Buium: B-
• Tries to rush up ice and he gets his pocket picked in the NZ and Chicago goes for a 2 on 1. He had 1, probably 2 open passing options
He was super slow at the end with the extra man. Needs better acceleration and foot speed over the summer to be able to take the next step as a prospect for us
Tuomisto: C+
• Weak on his stick in front for the first Griffins goal and they tap into the open net
Takes a low seeing eye shot through legs and Martin makes a nice pad save, unsure if he even saw the puck
I'm not seeing any standout play really, but he's had some brain-dead gaffes and reads that will hold him from making out roster. Yes, even our bad defensive core in Detroit
Becher: B
• His initial forecheck as F1 started things for Griffins goal #1, then Finnie came in as F2
He had a 2 on 1 with Gettinger and overskated the puck and fumbles it at the hashmarks
Kinda invisible game until the last 30 seconds when he fired a hard pass up the middle 6 on 5 to Dries and he gets stoned on the breakaway... Sigh...
Johansson: C+
• Hands are quite sick and has lots of confidence on the breakout to carry the puck under the pressure. Not to mention he will fire the puck up ice when he sees the need to. Sometimes though, the stretch passes are maybe too aggressive and he ices the puck
I worry about his defensive reads so far, but he has time and turns 21 soon anyway
Finnie: B+
• Very good defensively, showing off his habits there as a C even though he played LW today again
Great pressure on the half wall forces Chicago to cough it up right to Gettinger down main street and he wires it home
Confidence in puck carrying and creating space for himself when he needs, or getting the puck deep when necessary
Mid 2nd PP2 fires a fast cross ice pass to Becher who gets a shot off. I was not expecting that pass at all
Early 3rd he fires a pass up ice catching Chicago off guard and Becher goes for a clear 2 on 1 with Gettinger... Becher fumbled the puck at the hashmarks
