James breaks down the game against Philadelphia
Pretty good Friday night. I was in attendance. I’d love to see Ennis up. Stafford can get off the team.
-Vanek and Connolly looked pretty solid together. Vanek with 21 minutes of ice time. Lindy needs to keep him rolling, and seriously consider sprinkling in a little PK time. Connolly dropped the ball big time, but made up for it in OT. Other than his horrendous give away, he played a strong game. Keep Vanek and Connolly together for a bit, and maybe bring up Ennis to play wing.
-Rivet/Montador didn’t seem to be on the ice too much during the game. I’d like to keep it that way from now on.
-Really like Lydman and Sekera paired together. Both played pretty solid tonight. I’m really liking Sekera’s game. He’s a young offensive defenseman, so he’s going to make mistakes, but they need to keep him out there. Let him play his game, make aggressive pinches and skate the puck up the ice. Let’s see what this kid can do.
-Grier + Hecht together = good.
-Torres…eh. Didn’t really see much of him out there. He looked a little out of place, but that’s to be somewhat expected during his first game. From the brief moments that he did have the puck, I could tell that he is indeed a hard worker/fighter. He’s a strong guy, and he wont give up the puck easy like some of our finesse players. As I said before, it’ll take about 5 games for me to form a real opinion on him.
-Lastly, some Buffalo fans are just idiots. Certain pockets booed Briere every time he touched the puck. Grow up. “Ohhh Briere! We suck since you left! I hate you!”. Nice. Real classy.