Wow...That Was Ugly

It is tough to do the review when the game was so bad. Nothing seemed to go right for the Bears in Hamilton last night as they lost 6-0.

Here are the only 2 positives I can really bring out of this game and 1 of them is barely positive considering the outcome.

• The Bears outshot the Dogs 37-30
• The Bears only gave them 3 power plays

Unfortunately for the Bears they allowed 1 goal on those power plays and gave up TWO shorthanded goals last night.

I have to give credit though to Marc Denis. He played very well and earned the shutout with 37 saves. He never appeared to be out of position or in any real trouble in goal last night.

And in our own end the Bears were TERRIBLE all around. There is a lot of blame falling on Daren Machesney today and that isn't entirely fair. Was he good last night....not really. But the defense was NON-EXISTENT! Numerous times I saw players standing wide open in the slot just waiting for a pass.

It was definitely not a good game for the Bears and I honestly didn't think they would get beaten like this with the offense they have. I thought that they would manage to at least score a goal or two in every game. And I think that is a testament to the Bulldogs defense and Denis.


My Three Stars of the Game

1. Marc Denis
2. Max Pacioretty
3. Matt D'Agostini

Grading the Performance:

• Power Play - F - 7 opportunities and no goals. And really no great looks. I said it before and I will say it again...this team needs to quit trying to make the perfect pass and the pretty goal and just start going to the net. They pass it around the perimeter too much. They obviously shoot but they to go TO THE NET MORE. This grade would have been passing but they gave up 2 shorties and that is UNACCEPTABLE.
• Penalty Kill - C - They were only out for 3 Hamilton power plays and they stopped 2 of them but they still seem to be skating around too much. On the goal Gordon (I believe) ended up getting way to low in the zone. He was standing next to the 2 defensemen instead of back in the middle where there was a WIDE OPEN man.
• Even Strength - C - They got their chances they just couldn't score. Denis shut them down completely. And they gave up goals and couldn't seem to play any defense. But this team still outshot the opposition and seemed to play okay at times but Denis was the deciding factor.
• Overall - F - I would say that this is good for the team. By getting destroyed they will hopefully realize that they can't just coast through games. They better be focused on defense today at practice cause they need to learn how to play in their own zone. Stop skating around chasing the puck and start covering the open guys.

Next up for the Bears....Friday night @ Albany. Check back for the preview tomorrow morning.

LET'S GO BEARS!!