1.
I think sometimes we might get too focused on one single word. After the Penguins game it was the word 'scared' and while it's only natural, I don't believe the word was used as a face value definition.
Of course they weren't scared in the literal sense of the word but it is easy to jump on it because it was a key phrase we heard last night. Which is why I made it a point to follow up what they meant by scared because that might not be the best word to describe what happened in the third period against the Penguins.
So here are the follow ups:
Timo Meier:
“We just, I think, when we’re at our best everybody wants the puck, everybody wants to go out there and make plays if there are plays there. I thought we kind of, you know, weren’t ready. Everbody, it didn’t look like anybody wanted the puck like that. It’s tough.”
Jonas Siegenthaler:
"t’s not making the right plays or just throwing the puck away. I think we’ve just, in the future, have got to stick with it, even if it’s a tight game.”
“We’ve been in that situation quite a bit this year, at some point we’ve got to learn from it. Today we didn’t do the right thing."
Travis Green:
"I think that can get over stated. I don’t think they were scared. We weren’t making plays and the other team had some momentum and found their game. I don’t think they were literally scared and if they were I’d be surprised."
"It’s frustrating to see how we played. Especially with how well we were playing. To hear them, I think the scared part is probably a confident thing more than a scared thing and when the other team gets mometntum, your confidence and ability to make a pass can change."
2.
It was tough, although not entirely unexpected, to hear the news that in all likelihood we won’t be seeing Dougie Hamilton return to the ice this year. Yes, there are just seven games left, but there’s always that hope that a player can at least get back for a game or two to end their year on the ice instead of off of it.
But that is the nature of the beast.
The loss of Dougie has been enormous this year and it’s impacted so many aspects of the game. I talked about this a couple of weeks ago in a 10 Takeaways, when I had the chance to speak one-on-one with Travis Green.
I’m bringing back his thoughts because I think they really summarize what a loss like his has had in so many different aspects of the team's overall game.
“He knows pressure situations. Everyone knows about his shot, but you know, it does affect a big chunk of our team whenever you lose a top guy on the back end, it’s going to leave a mark. It’s left a mark on our forwards, being able to have a guy like that that can get pucks delivered into the net. Everyone wants forwards to score, get to the net. There’s a real art to getting the puck into the net, getting the puck on your stick and off your stick and Dougie is one of the best in the league at that.
“That’s one area that I’ve seen, you watch young defensemen when they get into the league, they have a hard time getting pucks to the net,” Green continued. “It’s just that they’re not used to the speed of the players coming out and the willingness of opponents to block a shot is extremely high in the NHL and those are all just the things that you learn as you’re longer in the league. That part of the game we’ve missed, his ability to create offense just by joining the play, I think we’ve missed a lot this year.”
3.
After last night's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins Luke Hughes has claimed sole possession of second place in rookie scoring... behind Chicago's phemon Connor Bedard. Luke is on a run of four straight games with a point (1g-3a) as he works his way up the rookie scoring board. The 20-year-old is up to 42 points this season (9g-33a), one point ahead of another rookie defenseman, Brock Faber in Minnesota.
That's where the race will be as the regular season winds down, with Arizona's Logan Cooley (39pts) and Minnesota's Marco Rossi (37 pts) making their own push. But when it comes down to the wire, that second place spot looks like it’s going to go to either Hughes or Faber and Luke doesn’t appear to be slowing down.