I did not attend today’s game, so I only have Saturday’s data. There were 20 minor penalties called in this game (Seriously, I promise I’m not kidding and counted twice). It’s hard to draw any real conclusions from the opener when that much of the game is spent on special teams.
Specific positive standouts were Boikov and the 4th line of Henley-Nantel-Bourke. On the flip side, I was less than pleased with the top D-pair and the shorties of Whitney, Nunn and Grimaldi.
Coach Veilleux was not afraid to change things up when they weren’t working as he used 6 different PP Forward pairs in the 1st period when it was struggling. He also seems to love Jardine as he played a lot on the PP and had an estimated TOI of 26 and a half minutes (which is only based on 5on5).
I have some other observations, but I’ll save those for this week’s Running with the Herd Live (I’m practicing my plugs).