MN played really well tonight...........in the first period.
The final 40 minutes were arguably the worst 40 minute stretch MN has played this year. I don't throw the "worst this year" qualifier around too often, but it applies tonight.
Passing was atrocious. Offensive zone pressure was atrocious. Misreads in teammates through all 3 zones were atrocious. PP was atrocious.
This isn't to take anything away from UNO. All 3 of their goals were well executed and timely. They did a good job adjusting I think after the first period. How much of that was due to the coaching staff and how much was due to players seeing what the Gophers were doing and adjusting on their own, I can't say. Either way, that adjustment explains the 2nd period. It most definitely doesn't explain the 3rd.
After the first period, I was all ready to come on here and eat crow for saying Isackson needed to be moved off the 1st line and Budish back onto it. But after the final 2 periods, I'm even more convinced that this change needs to happen...immediately. There was almost no offensive zone presence through the final 40 tonight. And that's where I think Budish is needed on the first line. Rau isn't a 1v1, open ice guy, and he has limited mileage in the corners due to his size. So Bjugstad has to try to carry the play both into the zone and then keep it there on his own...and try to score goals. Too much.
I also have to say Schmidt was awful tonight. He was pretty much solely culpable on the 1st goal, and I literally lost count of the number of times he put passes into UNO sticks and bodies through the neutral zone.
Lastly, I love Parenteau. I want him to be in the line-up on D every night. But he shouldn't play forward again. I get that they put him there tonight over Holl due to his size and physicality, but he looked so lost and out of synch all night. It's a total waste of one of our most consistent players.
