The Good:
- The Devils showed some serious resiliency as they battled back throughout the game, scoring within two minutes of their first four goals against including two in eight seconds in the second period to tie the game at four. They also showed great second chance efforts as Seney and Bastian cashed in by going hard to the net and pouncing on rebounds with two skilled shots in close.
- Blake Speers, Joey Anderson, Brandon Gignac and Zetterlund showed strong efforts on the penalty kill as they consistently blocked shots and got sticks in lanes to break up scoring opportunities and kept Buffalo's offensive pressure from even getting to the defensemen stationed between the dots and below the hashmarks. That effort was also exhibited throughout the game as the team did a good job keeping Buffalo to the perimeter and protecting Mackenzie Blackwood's net front for most of the game.
- John Quenneville said he's lost a significant amount of weight and body fat this summer as he trained like he's never trained before and it was evident on the ice. He looks faster and lighter on his feet and is better able to utilize his skills and creativity. Although his line, including Michael McLeod and Joey Anderson, was pointless in the game, they were in the mix offensively all night. He was really proud of their effort and wished they could have contributed more on the score sheet.
He said: "If we play hockey like that every night, we're going to win a lot more games than we lose. We played really hard, had a couple bad bounces and deflections and wish we had a better result, but we did a lot of really good things in that game and that's what we're going to focus on doing even better in these next two games."
The Bad:
- While the Devils finished the game with 34 shots on goal, they would like to sustain more offensive pressure. They would get the puck up ice, take the shot and go back the other way. This did improve in the second half of the game, but when you're chasing both the game on the scoreboard and the puck on the ice, it's hard to win.
- Two shorthanded goals by Buffalo were ultimately the difference in tonight's game.
The Bright Side:
- Binghamton Head Coach Mark Dennehy said both of those issues could easily be resolved after a couple practices as they shake off the rust and the cobwebs of the offseason and start to come together and play as a cohesive unit.
He said, "Every team has to deal with having only one or two practices before jumping right into games in these rookie tournaments. So, we all have to deal with it, some are just better at coming together quicker than others. Nothing a few practices can't fix, but we're all competitors and we want to win. We'll have some meetings in the morning, try to clean some things up and hopefully have a better result tomorrow."
They will look to bounce back against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday at 3:30pm.
