#67 according to webcast guys he picked up an injury during warm up
Must have been pre-pre-game. Sointu was never on the ice, even during the warm-up.
... did it feel like we treated it with low priority with Frolunda to come and it being a challenge cup fixture?
Yes ... and they’d be stupid not to.
Joey Martin is probably still glad to take what he can get in terms of
match fitness, Murdy played really well (ticking three boxes: time on ice, further evidence he’s a solid reserve, and a night off for Bownsy), and the players off-ice could be “injured“ anywhere from career threatening to a few split ends or a dodgy horoscope for all the difference it makes to progress in this season’s Challenge Cup
competition.
I find it impossible to believe that players are ever sent out with team orders (to lose) or that players could/would realistically follow them if they were but, at the same time, there was a feeling - with two minutes left - that coughing up a goal was a ”better option” than going to OT... and it wasn’t a surprise when Blaze found a winner. Would have been nice to see Murdy in a Shootout, but being back on the coach 30-40 minutes earlier is probably worth more come Tuesday.
Mostly it felt like Blaze came out in the 3rd Period knowing that there was a finite amount that the Devils would commit to winning this game, that players were bound to have Tuesday in the backs of their minds and that the points were increasingly there for the taking the longer the scores remained tied. Maybe that becomes the Devils tactic: play like your behind, take risks, push forward... if it leaves us open, so what. Still think we had our pockets picked though.
I assume that there’s a technical reason for the goal mounts not being improved across the league, but the situation at Coventry Is hardly unique. The final disallowed goal seemed pretty harsh (and the earlier one - at the far end - was likely much the same), but more a failure of the equipment than the officials.
Also agree with the comment (in the Storm game thread?) that Marjamäki seems to be
on the officials radar.