brendan smith

I couldn’t watch the whole game last night, I had work obligations. But I did get home for the final 12 minutes of the game. I polled Twitter on the first 48 minutes of the game as well. So I have some thoughts. I also want to give you my thought process from when I turned on the game, and that is going first because it’s different.

“Ok good I made it home for the third period.”

“OH GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO CHYTIL?!?!?!”

“It’s 5-4…..was it Hank or was it the defense?”

Narrator voice: It was both.

“I wonder how Smith has looked.”

“Ohhh Smith is feisty. He wants his job back.”

—

Ok on to thoughts of the game.

  • Looks like Henrik Lundqvist had a rough game. I can’t remember the last time he had a strong first preseason game, so I’m not worried. Heard the defense was pretty rough too. Again, just the preseason.
  • Speaking of the defense, there was one play I wanted to point out, which I did on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BlueSeatBlogs/status/1042585171906707456

  • That’s Skjei up top by the point. closest to the bottom of the image. That is how Alain Vigneault used to have his defensemen play. Skjei had a rough turnover before this along the boards, and then stuck his man up to the blue line. As mentioned the other day, it looks like David Quinn will break that habit. However it’s going to take a while. Expect to see that a lot.
  • Brendan Smith looks like he wants to give a giant middle finger to AV, all doubters, and anyone who made fun of him in middle school. Dude was angry and it showed.
  • I saw one goal, and it was the Flyers’ clinching goal. That giveaway by John Gilmour was rough. I don’t focus on one play to judge a player, but if it comes down to him or Neal Pionk, that play may stick out in minds.
  • Libor Hajek looked decent in the limited time I saw, but others on Twitter said he looked very good. Same with Brett Howden, although the latter looks like he needs more seasoning in Hartford. Not surprising.
  • I like the aggressiveness to pull the goalie with the man advantage while down two goals in the third. It didn’t work out, but it was different. I like the idea.
  • With so many players remaining in camp, I expect another round of cuts before the next preseason game.

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