You can't tell me Ron Hainsey and Dick Tarnstrom were the difference between responsible defense and giving up 21 goals in the first 5 games, including 3 shorties. Team defense was the strength of the team a year ago, but it appears to be the biggest weakness of the team right now. There seems to be a lot of scrambling and losing track of people in our own zone. Too much overplaying? Overcompensating? WTF is going with these guys.
In the meantime, our goalies are looking like crap. I'm sure there are many fans looking at the boxscores and ready to hang the goalies. Some of it is warranted, but 21 goals through 5 games points to way more than goaltending.
What blows is we're finally scoring some goals, almost a goal per game better than a year ago. But, in giving up waaaaay more than a goal a game than we did a year ago, all that offense is buried underneath the shitty defense.
Hitch is known for his defense, and I'm confident he'll get it turned around, but when? How much longer do we watch Klesla and Tyutin struggle in our end? Maybe it's time to put Klesla and Hejda back together, they excelled late last season. Let Commodore and Tyutin make things happen as a pair.
The upside is Kris Russell looks to have matured nicely. The kid is playing great, not tenative at all, and is moving the puck like a 10 year veteran. But, again, overshadowed by all the gaffes his teammates are making.
Hitch has a couple days to get things moving in the right direction before the Canucks are here, followed by the league leading Rangers and a certain Russian kid I'm sure will be ready to put on a show on Friday.
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