HW 3 Stars of the Game:

1) Scott Gomez: Sure, you can argue that when the team doesn’t score,
a lot of the blame should fall on him considering he’s the highest paid player,
but it certainly wasn’t hit fault in this game.  His line was the biggest
offensive threat for most of the game with him leading the way most of the time.

Statline: 19:48 TOI, -1 rating, 2 PIMS, 7 shots, 2 takeaways, 8/14
faceoffs (57%)

2) Ryan O’Byrne: When the team needs a spark, what do lots of people want
to see?  A fight.  O’Byrne did that.  In a rivalry such as this,
the fans want to see hitting.  O’Byrne did that too.  In a game when
the team can’t score thus ensuring the other team doesn’t get many chances
becomes that more important, guess who led the way in blocks?  You probably
don’t need me to even tell you.

Statline: 16:19 TOI, -1 rating, 5 PIMS, 5 hits, 5 blocks

3) Jaroslav Halak: You can never blame a goalie for the loss when your
team doesn’t score a single goal; even if you could, it wouldn’t be justified
here.  Simply put, he stopped everything that he could see or that wasn’t
deflected by his own teammates…heck, he even stopped a few of those as well.

Statline: 3:00 GAA, 24/27 saves (.889 SV%)

HM) Maxim Lapierre: After losing much of his ice time to the ‘Bulldog
bunch’ yesterday, he earned it back today.  With only 1 shot on goal, it’s
hard to say he was an offensive catalyst, but shots on goal simply don’t do him
justice here.  A solid bounce back game to say the least.

Statline: 14:10 TOI, even rating, 1 shot, 3 hits

Stat of the Game: This being the second game of a back-to-back, Jacques
Martin deviated from the rolling 4 line strategy pretty much right from the
get-go.  The Hamilton line, which played well yesterday saw less than a
combined 21 minutes of action despite the game being out of reach late.