Thoughts from the Ottawa game:
-Simon Wang was as advertised. Skates so well for how big he is, which anyone who knows anything about hockey can see right away. Had a bad turnover for a goal against in the 2nd but that'll happen with any rookie. He looked more and more comfortable as the game went on and had multiple shifts in the 3rd where he rushed it from his own zone and easily gained the OTT zone because of how good of a skater he is. And he'll light guys up physically which we've all been asking for more of from this Gens team.
-Colby Barlow with another 2G and now has 16 points in his last 15 games (11 goals). The guy who's always scored at a really high rate is scoring at a really high rate. Who saw this coming!! He's on pace for 32 goals this season now, even after the slow start.
-Beckett Sennecke, Colby Barlow and Luca Marrelli combine for 10 points to stick it to Cameron right away. Sennecke now has 11 points in last 2 games lol.
-Luca D'Amato looks engaged again. He's back jumping up into the play and being a positive player on both ends of the ice, which he wasn't for the first 25 games of the season. I still don't think he's an OA on this team post-deadline but he's definitely a player in this league and should be able to find another team for him to land on.
-Two extremely evenly talented teams tonight with 1 World Junior roster invitee each yet in a tie game the Gens didn't let Ottawa even get a shot on net for the last 19:30 of the 3rd period. Very impressive 3rd period.
-Gravelle had a couple soft ones against that he needs to stop but overall made some big saves including a huge breakaway save 30 seconds into the 3rd which prevented Ottawa from making it 5-3 and instead Barlow goes down the other way and scores 10 seconds later to tie the game 4-4. That was the biggest play of the game
-Big moment late in the 3rd when the game was already over where Wang blows by Mews with his big frame and high end skating combo, Mews has to take him down to prevent a breakaway, and then Mews cross-checks him well after the whistle. I got on KGN last game for not protecting their guys and said that is what winning teams always do and right when Mews crosschecked him you saw Buckley, Barlow and Marrelli all come flying in saying that wouldn't fly. You love to see those types of things backing up their younger players. Wang clearly valued that when he got back to the bench and gave Buckley props as he was going down the tunnel. Doesn't always have to be O'Toole doing that, which is good to see
. Comment of the year there.
