Originally Posted by Big Ev
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That was some damned entertaining hockey, particularly with it being in the middle of the summer and no one has played much in the past few months.
A few thoughts:
- What a night and day difference with Subban in net versus Brossoit. Brossoit made some big saves, but looked shaky from the first shot (and goal).Subban just oozed confidence, and was loved by the crowd. I don't think there's much question over who will be the starter come December.
- The Murphy-Murray pairing was deadly. Ryan Murphy had no fear bringing the puck up the ice and getting into the play. Murray was just solid.
- Charles Hudon is a gamer. Seemed to play bigger than his size, and was just everywhere. Habs got a great character guy with their 5th round pick, and hopefully he can Desharnais-it into the League one day.
- Dumba was a little disappointing. I don't want to be too hard on him, as its just a summer exhibition series and the team is stacked on D, but he didn't make much of a positive difference in either of the two games. Didn't seem to play too physically, and was a bit of a liability at times. But, its hard to judge when comparing him with Murray, Murphy, and Rielly. Right now, I hope he gets another year in Red Deer as it could do him some good.
- Vasilevski was a monster. 45 shots fired on him by Canada, 20 in the first period. Pulled out huge saves all night. 3 of the 4 Canada goals came on the power play, and he didn't have much of a chance on those. Huge performance.
- Speaking of powerplay, Huberdeau, Schiefle, and Rattie got it done with the man advantage last night. Three PP goals from that unit.
- Boone Jenner looks like he's going to be one heck of a player for Columbus. In addition to buzzing all over the ice, he had one PK shift that was just fantastic last night. Love seeing that.
- Didn't pay a whole lot of attention to most of the Russian team, but the Zlobin-Grigorenko-Yakupov line was dangerous every time they were on the ice. Canada did a fairly good job of keeping Yakupov and Grigorenko shut down both games, but Zlobin always found his way to the front of the net. Was pretty impressed with Slephyshev, Sigarev, and Nesterov as well.
- I hate to be the guy who complains about officiating, but both games had some weird calls. And seriously, when was the last time you saw a bench minor for a faceoff violation?
