Well, as pissed as I was with the result, overall I thought we played better than I expected.
Thoughts:
Gibson - I only blame one goal on him. Fowler didn't cover Johns stick on the first goal. The third goal was just stupid, Bieksa is crosschecked from behind and takes out Vatanen leaving Gibby defenseless. The fourth goal is on Kesler I think, he missed picking up Cracknell coming off the bench and driving the net. So IMO only the second goal was on gibby (letting in that puck through the five hole) even though it was a 3-2 I think he should of had it. We didn't give up many chances but when we did we paid for it. Now I also think that if he wants to prove to us that he's a number one he needs to stand on head sometimes and make those god like saves I know he's capable of. While I don't blame the loss on him I think if he played anywhere near as well as Niemi this game should have been tied 2-2. He was not the better of the goaltenders tonight.
Getzlaf - Man if he plays like this all season, I will no longer call him Senior Fancy Pass. 10 SOG and 75% faceoff, good job today sir.
Ritchie - Another positive note, played well and finished his all his checks. Just need to start finding the net, but he seems to be getting closer.
Perry - I always have a hard time giving reviews of Perry, he never looks like he's playing hard but that's how he always plays. This game he just couldn't find any open space and basically was non-factor because of that.
Kesler - Played well and that pass to Cogs for the second goal was beautiful. Only thing I noticed was that he was caught looking at the puck on that Fourth goal instead picking up Cracknell.
Cogs - Always looks good and today with 2 Goals was great.
Fowler - Solid
Larsson - I agree with most people here. In the first period he looked good but as the game went on and got a little quicker he got a little sloppy but overall played well for his first game. Look forward to see more of him.
Bieksa - Well what is there to say, I didn't think he was terrible so I guess that was an improvement but like Larsson the longer the game went on the worse he started to look.
Boll - Didn't realize he was playing until he took that penalty and was like "Oh damn, that's why we picked up Etem"
Sorenson - Looked fine for his first game. Look forward to seeing more of him.
Vatanen - Man, I didn't like how he played in the WCOH and it seems like it's the same in this game. He needs to find ways to be more useful on the PP.
Final Thoughts: Again, I thought we played a pretty good game, that first period was great; we only gave up 1 shot. Unfortunately that one shot cost us and Niemi played exceptional so what I thought should have been at least a 2-0 period was a 1-1 instead. Second period we saw Dallas surge and only gave up one goal and that's the goal I thought Gibby should have stopped. We held tight and survived to the third period though now we're behind 1-2. Lastly in the third, we had that great goal from Cogs then a horribly missed call and being caught flat footed cost us the game 4-2. I hate games like this, when we are the better team overall but lose to the the other team because they capitalize better on mistakes and got outstanding play from one player; in this case was goal tending.
Thoughts:
Gibson - I only blame one goal on him. Fowler didn't cover Johns stick on the first goal. The third goal was just stupid, Bieksa is crosschecked from behind and takes out Vatanen leaving Gibby defenseless. The fourth goal is on Kesler I think, he missed picking up Cracknell coming off the bench and driving the net. So IMO only the second goal was on gibby (letting in that puck through the five hole) even though it was a 3-2 I think he should of had it. We didn't give up many chances but when we did we paid for it. Now I also think that if he wants to prove to us that he's a number one he needs to stand on head sometimes and make those god like saves I know he's capable of. While I don't blame the loss on him I think if he played anywhere near as well as Niemi this game should have been tied 2-2. He was not the better of the goaltenders tonight.
Getzlaf - Man if he plays like this all season, I will no longer call him Senior Fancy Pass. 10 SOG and 75% faceoff, good job today sir.
Ritchie - Another positive note, played well and finished his all his checks. Just need to start finding the net, but he seems to be getting closer.
Perry - I always have a hard time giving reviews of Perry, he never looks like he's playing hard but that's how he always plays. This game he just couldn't find any open space and basically was non-factor because of that.
Kesler - Played well and that pass to Cogs for the second goal was beautiful. Only thing I noticed was that he was caught looking at the puck on that Fourth goal instead picking up Cracknell.
Cogs - Always looks good and today with 2 Goals was great.
Fowler - Solid
Larsson - I agree with most people here. In the first period he looked good but as the game went on and got a little quicker he got a little sloppy but overall played well for his first game. Look forward to see more of him.
Bieksa - Well what is there to say, I didn't think he was terrible so I guess that was an improvement but like Larsson the longer the game went on the worse he started to look.
Boll - Didn't realize he was playing until he took that penalty and was like "Oh damn, that's why we picked up Etem"
Sorenson - Looked fine for his first game. Look forward to seeing more of him.
Vatanen - Man, I didn't like how he played in the WCOH and it seems like it's the same in this game. He needs to find ways to be more useful on the PP.
Final Thoughts: Again, I thought we played a pretty good game, that first period was great; we only gave up 1 shot. Unfortunately that one shot cost us and Niemi played exceptional so what I thought should have been at least a 2-0 period was a 1-1 instead. Second period we saw Dallas surge and only gave up one goal and that's the goal I thought Gibby should have stopped. We held tight and survived to the third period though now we're behind 1-2. Lastly in the third, we had that great goal from Cogs then a horribly missed call and being caught flat footed cost us the game 4-2. I hate games like this, when we are the better team overall but lose to the the other team because they capitalize better on mistakes and got outstanding play from one player; in this case was goal tending.
