W!

…. On to specifics

Rollie: considering how everyone had all but given up on Rollie going into this year, I would consider his performance so far to be nothing short of spectacular. Going into tonights game Rollie’s line was:

2-3

9.16 Save %

2.81 GAA

Good enough for 13^th in Save % and 19^th in GAA… I’d go so far to say he’s played better then those numbers would indicate

 

Dustin Penner: Sliding back into the starting line-up Penner shows up on the score sheet scoring an important goal to squash a surging Blue Jackets teams. More importantly then his goal was his gamesmanship, he still was far from fast and was visibly gassed a few times, but he got his nose dirty, took a beating in front of the net . Good on you coming back Penner, keep this up and the heat will come off (more to come)

Horcoff: Solid game, picked up a goal on a great cross ice pass from Hemmer just as the PP expired, he’s had opportunities from there, nice to see him bury one.

Hemsky: Flying again tonight, 3 more assists, he’s quickly asserting himself as the offensively leader of the team.

Souray: Questionable penalties, but that aside he’s playing like a Norris caliber Dman, another PP goal and a laser beam pass on what was probably the nicest Oiler goal scored by some not named Hemsky

Blue Jackets:

This team is quickly getting up to steam, I see them as this years Black Hawks, great young talent. They aren’t there yet… but they are close, we could see a serious shift in the power of the West over the next couple of years.

We seen tonight why their PP is dead last in the NHL the pieces are there and when it was clicking they had a few opportunities, but overall it was a mess.

Penner Part 2:

I’m a firm believer about earning your ice time and your opportunity, however a real concern that I had going into this year was too many top 6 bodies without enough top 6 spots. I was comfortable that whomever was bumped to line 3 would still have quality linemates, however there is only so many PP minutes to go around….. And Penner seemed to be the odd man out.

Last year:

23 goals 24 assists 47 points

PP

13 goals 10 assists 23 points

PP Time/game

3:43 min/game

This year:

4 goals 1 assist 5 points in 17 games

Over 82 games:

19 goals 5 assists 24 points

PP time 1:33 8^th on the team for forwards, in other words 3^rd unit minutes

I firmly believe, if Penner had 2 extra PP min per nights so far this year that he would have a couple more goals and a couple more assists putting him well onto last years pace.

Has he been playing hard? No

Did he deserve to be sat? Probably

Is he the only one:? No

Is this blown out of proportion? Probably

 

Next up, round 2 with Detroit.

 

 

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