Had to collect my thoughts on last night. I really feel as though there's too many things here at play that singling out one over the other is a fool's errand.
First off, I can never fault any fan for being upset and booing but I really have a strong distaste for the boos in the pregame intros and the fire Lindy chants. Especially in a game like last night where I felt the effort was largely there. I get that effort does not equal production, but this was a game that we very likely should have one. (Yeah, I know, same old story.)
There is something fundamentally wrong with what we do in our own zone when we have the puck. I need to watch it more closely but whether it's indecisiveness from our defenders or lack of support from our forwards, when things go awry it becomes chaos. It tends to lead to these chances occurring. We don't always give up a ton of chances but when we do, they're high danger seemingly every time.
And from there, you'd like it if your goalie could bail you out once or twice. I do believe that wears on a team mentally as well. And I really am sick of those complaining about the GM not trying to fix goaltending when he has attempted to each year since he has been in charge. I still stand by the fact that I haven't seen goaltending this subpar leaguewide in my years of being a fan.
Finally, the lack of production or converting chances on the forwards. I don't believe that this is going to be a problem for long, but it to me is the ultimate reason for this loss at the end of the day. If the team converts on any of these earlier chances, especially in the second period, we likely see a much different outcome. That's just how a game goes. If we go up 3-2, perhaps we have more momentum and you don't see the errors at the end of that period occur. The swing of giving up the go ahead goal, giving away a late PP with a bad penalty by Tatar and then the dagger goal with .8 seconds left was really the nail in the coffin. It sucked the life out of the entire team and building.
Of course I don't believe Lindy is long for this job but I do feel there has to be a point where the players have to hold themselves accountable. I don't agree with everything Lindy does, especially with how he has deployed the lineup in these first two games, but I do think there are things the players need to start recognizing that have been detriments to their potential success in these first two games.
I hope to see the defensive lineup altered next game, and would like to see Bahl get a shot as well. I like that Smith is being a vocal leader and recognizes his role, but he can do that as a scratch. He seems to be weighing Marino down so far.
