I noticed no one has posted the lines from last night's contest, so I'll do that first:
Team Red:
Crosby-Bergeron-Fehr
Ladd-Carter-Colliton
Fraser-Richards-Dixon
Bolland-Meyer-Stewart
Coburn-Syvret
Belle-Barker
Picard-Quincey
Glass, Dubnyk
Team White/U. of M:
MacArthur-Stone-Getzlaf
Dawes-Boyd-Perry
Two lines from U. of M (really liked the McDonald-Jacobsen-Falloon line)
Phaneuf-Weber
Green-(Regan Leslie played here, possibly would have been Seabrook)
U. of M defense pair
Nastiuk, Beauchemin
Comments:
* I felt that most of the players weren't really trying to impress but were trying not to make glaring errors.
* I think Crosby was out of sorts on the left/right wing (he needs more ice to operate) and Bergeron really wasn't the right guy to match with him (even though they combined for the first period goal). Fehr looked like he was trying to get physical and he had that Messier-like snapper going.
* Fraser and Dixon look like possible energy-linemates... don't know who the last piece of that puzzle will be.
* Perry was here and there, but I also noticed a few times he was cherry-picking way too far up ice. He did score a pretty goal as mentioned above, going five-hole on Glass. He's going to have to show something defensively to make the team with Sutter coaching...
* Conversely, Boyd and Dawes seemed to be working hard on forechecks more than Perry. Dawes had a good game and Boyd had some good moments. I doubt he'll make this team and but he looks like a good bet for next year.
* Barker really looked lost out there. He made some suicide passes and he was clocked by Jacbosen with his head down. If Sutter were making cuts today Barker would be back in M.H. Hopefully tonight he can turn it around.
* The goalie situation remains muddled. No one looked the part of a #1, but none discraced themeselves either. Nastiuk had trouble with rebound control (a stickler for me). Beauchemin made some nice stops but also nearly gave up a goal with the puck squeezed through his body (the whistle came prematurely with the puck close to the goal line). Glass looked comfortable playing the puck and had some nice pad saves on good chances in the first period, but he allowed a five-hole goal to Perry. Dubnyk's rebound control was very good (best of the four) but he mis-handled the puck behind his goal and that led to Stone's first of the night. Don't know how any of the others would rank the field after last night. I'd hazard a guess it would be Beauchemin, Dubnyk, Glass and Nastiuk, but for all intensive purposes the jobs are still up for grabs.
* I agree that Weber was impressive on defense and has the inside track on one of the openings on the blueline. Syvret looked pretty good on defense (made some nice breakups of passes in front of goal) though I expected a little more on the powerplay. He showed enough that I would put him ahead of Picard, Green, Barker and Quincey in the running for the last playing blueline spot.
*Guys who need a big game tonight (probably goes without saying that everyone does, but these ones in particular):
FW- Perry, Bolland, Ladd, MacArthur, Boyd
D- Picard, Green, Barker, Quincey
G- All of them...
Would have loved to have gone again tonight... for $5 you can't beat that value.