I missed the first but we were flat out dominant in the 2nd and 3rd. Wings had a ton of puck luck, we had little finish, and Lyon was excellent to keep it at 2.
Jackson Blake was excellent, our second best player after Slavin. Hall was great but had less than zero finishing.
Also, Kotkaniemi was real good tonight. Made simple play after simple play. That to me looks like a low end but a capable hold-down-the-fort 2C. He won't be a JT Miller 2C who can score 100 points, but he looks like about as quality a 40, 45 point guy as you can find. Of course if we can upgrade there, you make the trade, but I don't see that being an option unless someone like Felix Unger Sorem can be that guy way down the line.
Rantanen did some little things right but he generally doesn't know where to be on the ice to make tic tac toe plays. It's clear some of our other forward combos have more chemistry, but the natural talent, shot, and skill is there. Even at worst, Rantanen is always taking a defender out of the play as the other team respects his shot so much.
Orlov still looks OK in the offensive zone but he is just not handling the puck well right now. He was also a turnstile on the Detroit goal. That 2 year deal felt no-risk at the time, but now I have some buyer's remorse. It prevented us from re-signing Pesce. We could be looking at Slavin-Pesce / Ghost-Chatfield / Burns-Walker. Handedness would be off but it still gives you better options. Of course those 35, 36 years could be bad for his contract.