2.
Speaking of Kovacevic, it was Erik Haula and Stefan Noesen who pushed him into the center of the stretch circle after the Wednesday practice. Kovacevic is set to go up against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night, the team he was traded from, to New Jersey over the summer.
3.
Last season: one shutout after 72 games.
This season: three in 15.
Along with the goaltending tandem of Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen, the entire team has been all-out, full buy-in to commit to the defensive side of the puck and trust that it won’t come at the expense of their offensive game.
Because it hasn’t. See: Nico Hischier, the most defensively sound forward, leading the team in goals.
Fifteen games in, it hasn’t been perfect, but there’s a lot to like. And part of that has to come from the players seeing things work in real-time and with real results.
“It’s been a lot of new stuff for us, but we can see the benefits of it. We had a very tough schedule at the start with a lot of learning, tough schedule but we somehow managed it and now it’s time to grow and be better every day, that’ shwat we’re here for.”
4.
Jake Allen said he had been watching carefully Jacob Markstrom’s most recent games. He wanted to enter his next game with a couple of the qualities he was picking up on from watching his tandem partner.
"I tried to take a page out of Marky’s last two games," he said. "I felt he played a lot more calm than previous games and he looked great in his last two games. I try to take a page out of that book."
Jake then went out and posted a shutout against the Oilers.
It just goes to show that no matter how long you’re in the league, no matter how much experience you have, you’re there because you’re always learning and always willing to try to get better.
5.
Athletes, they’re just like us.
I got a good laugh out of Brett Pesce describing missing the trip to Prague as having FOMO. I mean, really, who wouldn’t?