Delayed putting these up, had an early bedtime last night and I forgot my notebook at home, then worked late. Wah wah.
Decent game last night, better than a lot of the usual efforts lately, but there were a few little things, like the repeated turnovers at the bluelines, that are going to come back and bite them - again. Notes of the night: 71 was out with a dislocated shoulder, 27 lined up back with 10 and 83, and then in the third 10 and 77 bowed out. Brodziak did a decent job filling in for Horcoff on the top line. I noticed at one point that Penner was out with Cogliano and Reddox to take a defensive zone faceoff, then when he won it, he hotfooted it off the ice to give way to Moreau. I'm not sure and don't care to check how many times that repeated itself.
Smid, 5: almost the perfect third-pairing defenceman. Almost 19 minutes of icetime, all even strength, just one glaring mistake, a shot block, and no goals in on his watch. He was physical when required. The Blues had a few more chances for than against when he was skating, including early in the third when he let the puck trickle out front and the Blues pounced on it, getting a good chance.
Horcoff, 6: his penalty was in the defensive zone at least, but wasn't a particularly good one to take. Limited icetime what with missing the third period and all, and > 30% of his 9:20 was on the PK.
Nilsson, 7: high event game for the young feller, I had two pluses and a minus against his name on one shift. He was particularly prone to overhandling the puck at the blue lines; one turnover at the offensive blue led to a breakaway by Boyes and Roloson had to make a good save as Grebeshkov annoyed the Blue. Still, the set of two pluses led to Souray's goal, and he was skating hard all night, even if he probably did lead to a few more grey hairs for MacT. Great move on the shootout goal.
Cogliano, 6: obviously the coach doesn't trust him to take own-zone faceoffs. His line produced more than it gave up though, even if it didn't score; he had two shots himself.
Moreau, 6: a point would have given him a 7. Two shots, two hits, and a blocked shot, he was physical all night. Led the team in SH minutes, and the PK was particularly good, never allowing the Blues many chances to set up. +4/0 even strength chances.
Potulny, 4: pretty much a non-factor. He wasn't really physical, wasn't making plays, generated no offense and wasn't great defensively either.
Staios, 6: with Vis down and Gilbert gone in the third, he played 26:18. He was physical, often clearing the front of the net, and was part of the strong PK. No points, but he did get a shot on net; one giveaway, not bad for the amount of ice he saw. Gave up a lot of chances though, +3/-7 at even strength.
Cole, 6: same as Moreau, except moreso. A point would have been a 7. He had 5 hits and was skating hard all night. Two shots and almost as proficient as Cogliano in the faceoff circle. Another PKer who deserved lots of credit.
Penner, 6: -1 (SHGA), but I didn't think he really deserved the minus since the goal came off a Blues rush off the faceoff in their own end. Only one shot but he was physical all night, winding up with 3 hits. He had a glorious chance to get the go-ahead goal in the third but couldn't quite get his stick on it. He set up Hemsky and was making decent plays all night. Cole-lite with better hands last night. Needs to score on the PP though.
Grebeshkov, 6: played much more than he's used to and did fairly well with the time; 25:02, 4:14PP and 3:39 PK. He saw a bit of Keith Tkachuk and hemmed the big guy in fairly well. Like Penner, with that much PP time he needs to get a point.
Strudwick, 5: +4/-5, he saw almost 20 minutes of icetime, which must be nearly double his usual allotment. He was physical in front of the net and seemed to have something going with Tkachuk. Two hits and a shotblock, a workmanlike game for #43.
Souray, 7: nasty, generated more chances than he gave up in over 28 minutes of ice, 4 shots and the goal. He has had much softer hands this season than I expected; I figured most of his goals were cannon blasts and garbage, but he's adept at floating the puck in on net too. He played all of at least one of the power plays, staying on while everybody else changed.
Stortini, 5: only one credited hit, he was still fairly physical. Pretty decent tilt with Janssen, although it looked like he hurt his right hand. He didn't generate any chances and gave 3 up, although from memory none were grade A.
Brodziak, 6: second assist, 19:32 of icetime, +4/-5 ES chances, gave up not a sniff on the PK, and filled in well enough in the third for Horcoff. Strong 6. I'm not sure how he's the one that wound up with a penalty on the scrum that wound up with 6 players in the Oilers net or in the crease, but he definitely saved a goal there by curling up on the puck.
Gilbert, 5: only 4 shifts in the second and none in the third. Back spasms suck, and while we're not letting up for injury, I still respect the game. He managed 2 shots and 2 shot blocks.
Hemsky, 6: another high-event player. He had 3 shots and 3 more blocked, blocked one himself, and made some great plays that wound up nowhere, but he also made some great plays that wound up going the wrong way and gave it up at the blueline a few times too many for a player who's had plenty previous experiences to demonstrate that sometimes simpler is better. +1/-4 ES chances and 0/-1 on the PP - that one wound up in his own net. Weak 6.
Reddox, 6: part of a chance-generating machine +5/-1, he had two shots himself. His three hits likely weren't much more effective than my own would have been, but he was skating hard to get them all night.
Gagner, 6: the shootout goal pushed him up from 5 territory. Part of the crew that got scored on, he lost the faceoff. +3/-5 on the night, one of the chances against was a good one when he gave the puck away to Boyes in his own slot. Had a great chance with Cole in OT.
Roloson, 8: I thought he probably should have stopped the goal that went in, but he stopped several others that should have gone in, so it more than evens out. Only had to make two stops in OT, but they were good ones.