Originally Posted by
Crofter
I'm not a "smart" hockey fan. Never played the game (except on the street), and I don't even watch the NHL product very often. I do attend a lot of Pats games though. Game atmosphere was better than usual before the puck dropped, I think the new regime is trying to be more fan-friendly. It worked, kinda. One of you guys can tell me if my observations hold up, but this is what I see:
Lack of finish around the goal was problematic, and too many penalties cost the Pats big. Watching the warmup it was obvious that Brandon had a lot of size on the Pats and over the course of the game this is something that matters. I saw some good things from the young players, but I worry about learning and development if 6-1 is going to be a normal score and they get psychologically beat up. Our 20-year old situation doesn't look great to me, I only see one guy who I think will be an impact player. I guess we got to the place we are in by trading draft picks for Martin Marincin, Carter Ashton, and a bunch of guys who were a little better than the guys who they replaced but didn't help us much overall, so I don't expect any kind of quick fix. The current squad just needs to play better.
This team also really misses a Dyson Stevenson, Garrett Mitchell, Shayne Neigum kind-of-player. A guy who scores goals and drops the gloves. I hope one emerges.