Game report:
Lied when I said there would be 8,000 Matthews Jerseys at the game, I counted 7,999. Had a great time at the Gila Monster Arena. It was proceeded by some sake bombs and sashimi across from the arena.
Started with a brief tribute to Johnny Bower, they called for a moment of silence and out of the quiet, a voice high up rang out "We love you Johnny", bringing a tear to everyone. Just after a guy passed me with a Bower sweater on, signed on the back by Mr. Bower himself. Nice!
What to say, an exciting fast game with the wild first period, so I will point out a few things other than the obvious; Matthews, Nylander and Marner are all fantastic and will only get better over the years. Who impressed otherwise; Hainey, Marleau, Borgman (to me outside of his penalty played an impressive solid game, great freebie pickup, he has so much room to improve). Polak especially in the third was a rock, snuffing players out along the boards and played a really solid game overall (which was a surprise). Reilly seemed invisible which was a good thing compared to Jake Gardner. I like Jake, I really do, but last night he was atrocious, continually making gaffes. The guy next to me said Jake was the most talented worst player he has ever seen. Last night it was true. Perhaps it time to package him up and ship him out or pray for a reversal of his penchant for huge defensive lapses. Kadri whilst on the ice was invisible and then he disappeared with the head shot. The other Leaf that concerned me last night was JVR. He was floating for most of the game and is not good defensively as well. He took a terrible penalty leading to goal 4 for the Yotes, so there was a moment when you thought they may cave. Would replacing him with Kapenen really be that bad??
Overall I think the Yotes have a very promising young team, fast, always working, so the future does look bright for them. Last night they were just beating by a bunch of shining young (and one older) stars.