In 2 games since spending most of December with the Capitals he has 5 goals and 4 assists. 9 points in 2 games.....ON THE ROAD! He now has 23 goals and 16 assists this season. Good for 2nd in the league in goals and 2nd on the team in points behind league leader Keith Aucoin.
The offense is just different with him in the lineup. He makes that top line go and the offense trickles down to other lines because the opposing team has to focus so much on him and the MAG line.
His line definitely benefits from him being there too as Aucoin had 3 goals and 4 assists in the last 2 and Graham Mink had 2 goals and 2 assists in the two games. Not bad for a line that was struggling to create offense.
Simeon Varlamov had another great night as he made 35 saves on 37 shots in the 7-2 victory in Worcester last night. It was a rare back to back starts for the young goaltender and he showed that he can handle it now. Combined this weekend he stopped 71 of 75 shots. Pretty good.
Also a congratulations to Steve Pinizzotto who scored last night to give him a goal in three straight. Well done Pinner!
My Three Stars of the Game:
- Alexandre Giroux - don't know what to say....4 goals and an assist!
- Keith Aucoin - 2 goals and 2 assists....also amazing.
- Graham Mink - 2 primary assists gets his name on the board.
Grading the Performance:
- Offense - A - The MAG line at least gets an A as they combined for 6 goals and 5 assists. I think that is their best performance since the season opener at Wilkes-Barre. Supposedly the Bears only had 29 shots but according to Walton it seemed that they weren't counting the Bears shots too much which really just hurt their goalie's numbers. But either way 7 goals on 29 shots is pretty good.
- Defense - B - I didn't see the entire game but the defense looked solid. The Sharks scored 2 goals but they did get 37 shots on Varly which isn't good. But I am not sure the caliber of all those shots so I will give the defense the benefit of the doubt and give them a solid grade.
- Goaltending - A - I didn't see the 2 goals from Worcester but if you make 35 saves I think you must have played a very good game.
- Power Play - A - Much better than the night before. The Bears converted 2 of 4 chances and did very well while a man up.
- Penalty Kill - A - They gave up 1 goal on 5 tries which wouldn't usually warrant an A but they also scored 2 goals. That's right...2 shorties in the same game. A good showing from the unit.
- Overall - A - A very good game from the entire team. Maybe not the most complete game of the season but coming off a blowout win and finishing up a 4 in 5 weekend it was an impressive display. Numerous Bears SHOULD be back in Worcester for the All Star game in a few weeks.
LET'S GO BEARS!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment