Congratulations to the Lightening - they wanted it, they relentlessly fought for it, and earned that win. Great leadership from their player-coaches (Wallace and Lannon) and an outstanding performance by Killeen.
Two causes to blame for Devils poor performance 1) No where near clinical or accurate enough 2) failure to work out a plan to get past Killeen - completely bizarre as we have played MKL several times already and know how this goalie performs.
Yes Devils outshot the Lightening - what a pointless statistic. Only highlights how poor the Devils' accuracy was, and how good Killeen performed. SOG only become relevant....if you are scoring.
Ben Bowns did his job - he kept the score against as low as possible for as long as possible. It was down to the forwards (and a good game plan) to execute chances against MKL goalie. With the plethora of skill and experience amongst our forwards, it seems all the more strange the Devils could not capitalise.
To achieve success requires consistency....Devils simply don't have it at the moment. The Giants are virtually in cruise control, destroying their opposition and also finding ways to win, even in the tightest of games. They are the real deal this year and a pleasure to watch.
We keep banging on about missing Hotham - nothing could be truer. A maverick player who dominated overtime situations last season, and could be relied upon 100% to pull off something special in very tight games, usually single-handedly. Giants have Baum. We have no-one like that on our team this season. Linglet and Martin are very highly skilled - but they cannot be expected to do it alone.
Some observations:
1. Want an energy line? Then re-unite Faryna-Myers-Haddad and stick with it. A proven physical, menacing unit last season.
2. Schiestel, Mosey and Duggan are all fantastic additions to the roster....but they need to be 'utilised' in the best way possible with strong line mates and in the right situations. The worry is that they won't want to come back here next season if the team gets into a losing frame of mind.
3. For all the criticism of Morrisette's playing performance, it's fair to say there are others on the team who are also not at their best for whatever reason. But you don't have to be the best player out there to be a good leader......and there is not much evidence of strong leadership on the ice recently. Whatever influence or inspiration the captain is giving is not evident during the games. Time for a new captain? Yes, it would be great but we all know that won't happen for various reasons.
4. Don't think it's a confidence issue or even coasting issue that is affecting the team's performance.....it's a concentration issue. No co-incidence that we cannot close out tight games and are ending up in overtime. The last five minutes of regulation in recent games have ended in conceded goals/unneccesary penalties. In some games it happens even earlier than that. And last night we were lucky the Clan did not equalise in those closing minutes to push yet another game into overtime.
Our Guys have proved early on this season how well they can really play. What on earth has happened?