LMHF Game Report #6

EDMONTON

VS.

DETROIT

--------------------

This is the first report issued from my iphone. I'm off to a friend's birthday and will write more later on.

Once again we had chances to win. After the first we really limited Detroit's chances and got some of our own. We only scored 1 due to a horrid PP, hitting posts and missing rebounds. We could've won this game on the strength of period 2 but didnt capitalize.

While Det's big guys were solid, they were not scary aside from a couple moments (datsyuk off the bar comes to mind). We matched them decently despite being down our best D. Against skating teams we will always contend.

PLAYER REPORTS
--------------------

Khabibulin
- go find the highlight film from his second period save on #40 if you want to see play of the year. AMAZING glove save. He needed to stop the first goal however. Aside from that he was pretty good.


Whitney
- his defining moment tonight had to be the fight after the late hit on Hemsky. It might not have been dirty but it was late. To me, the fight makes it clear that a message was sent in the room after last game. This is a good thing. Ryan didnt have a particularly strong game.

Vandermeer
- when a guy makes you wish for the fine and steady play of Aaron Johnson, you know he's not great. Vandermeer got blown clear by twice in the first and didnt make up for anything by bringing a physical element. He's better than Strudwick but still needs to go as he costs us goals.

GIlbert
- probably one of his better games in a while. He got physical in the corners and won pucks a couple times in addition to solid positioning. He also avoided penalty situations while breaking up 2 nearly clear Detroit rushes (including the one #35 poked away). I liked his game.

Foster
- totally all over the place. He made a great read and slap pass for the Hall goal but was horrid defensively and made a lot of bad passes.

Smid
- not his best, but made some excellent passes and got in Holmstrom's face.

Peckham
- didnt play for some reason...

Strudwick
- blech...best #2 comment of the night: "helm just held the puck longer on that rush than Strudwick has all year!

Jones
- got a couple good chances and thought he might score an ugly one.

Fraser
- the invisible man? He does nothing.

Stortini
- other than owning Lidstrom for the puck twice on the same shift in the third he was terrible. Has totally forgotten his job is to be physical.

Cogliano
- not as noticable as the last few games. Couldnt seem to get going tonight.

Brule
- he played very well aside from a couple giveaways. Loved the physicality, especially the MOnSTER hit on Datsyuk. Had he connected on the shooting chance from his wheelhouse, the night would have been complete.

Penner
- better in that he got his shots away including a second period post that would have changed the game, but not dominant in any way and needs toget back to planting out front.

Paajarvi
- not his best effort. Had a couple nice backchecks but generated litrle offence and shied away from hits too often.

Gagner
- fell down every second shift. Seriously. He also got a couple nice shots on but varied wildly between productive looking rushes and giveaways. I didnt think he gelled with his line.

Eberle
- probably the first game of his i wasnt totally blown away. Solid play still and love his PK, but no theatrics.

Hemsky
- ales got some shots on net but struggled a bit tonight. Didnt seem to have an open man much of the time. The puck wasnt going to him on the rush either, which looked like a planning flaw. Got stuck standing still at times with no outlet.

Horcoff
- carried the puck too much and didnt use his speed to get open. Probably needs a game to adjust to playing with ales again.

Hall
- like that he got his first goal at home but needs to tighten up his skating lines a bunch and stop taking stupid wide angle shots when trailers are open for the pass. He could have had a very good game and squandered it by my eye. 83 and 10 make his job very easy.


----------------------

If our PP didnt stink, we win. We gave the puck up on break in way too often. Back to he drawing board.