On Perry, he had one of the best scoring chances with his stick/body work bringing the puck into and across the slot. Then he later set up Nurse who had a great opportunity.
With only 13 shots I figured you guys could remember those two! Slow or not he is playing smart positionally to limit his weakness and is using his strengths to create plays.
Defensively I was nervous as hell but the boys didn’t let me down once.
Kulak with big plays (a massive one against Fiala), Ceci and Nurse with big plays, Desharnais did everything great, Ekholm and Bouchard were pristine. Bouchard had a few plays in the corner to keep or retrieve the puck that stood out to me.
The forwards were all playing their positions in a text book way. Winning the small battles defensively and moving the puck around well. Tons of board play, I love watching the boards during the playoffs (my favourite spot when playing hockey).
It was very exciting hockey although low shooting. There were some great looks that missed like the Kulak pinch he fanned on, the Nurse shot from the zone entry pinch that Rittich managed to block, the Perry dragging through the slot and getting us an opportunity. Hyman barely missed a couple plays and McDavid just fanned on a shot that would have be an open net. The best thing about that play is instead of pulling the trigger after dusting the puck he kept in the zoom to try and get more chances.
I loved that the Kings had ZERO shots on their PP.
Something that we are doing more of this year compared to last: playing a clean game and keeping out of the box when you know the other team will get away with almost anything. Maybe we finally have someone on the bench knows what is happening and he is rallying the guys to focus on playing clean hard hockey and keeping your head up.
Skinner was a brick wall.