Baby Bolts lose 5-2.
Some players I liked: first and foremost Hugo Alnefelt. I said before the game I wanted to see a better performance from him this time and he delivered. I thought Declan Carlile looked really good. This was my first time seeing him live and he played really well. He's got good mobility, skates well, and can make some plays with the puck. Wasn't really expecting him to stand out as the undrafted guy, but he was noticeable. Jack Thompson had some nice plays in the 2nd period. I believe he sprung Koepke for a breakaway and then had another stretch pass for someone else. And in the 3rd Perbix really showed up. His big shot on the PP led to the Bolts first goal to make it 2-1, and his open ice hit gave them another PP to potentially tie the game. Props to Carlile too who dropped the gloves after the Preds came after Perbix. Fortier was Fortier, and I mean that as a compliment. Fast, aggressive, a little gritty, played hard on the forecheck and backcheck. He played his game.
Some players that were "eh" - Lucas Edmonds. Made some nice little plays, but you can see he's gonna need some time. Tried to thread the needle a few too many times which led to turnovers, and looked like a player out of juniors, even though he's a little older. Cam MacDonald kinda went under the radar. Just thought that was worth mentioning after the McDonnell-Element-MacDonald line was really the Bolts best line in this tournament last year. Both Element and MacDonald really didn't have that same impact in game 1 today.
And some frustrating players - Max Cajkovic. Took 2 bad penalties, but also didn't really do anything positive. IIrc last year he had a 2 goal game in this tournament so I was hoping to see him come out strong, but it just didn't happen. The other guy for me was Finley. This is mainly to do with his 3rd period penalty which took the Bolts off the PP down 2-1 with a chance to tie the game and riding some momentum. A minute later Nashville scores to put the game out of reach. Can't have that.
Bolts have a practice day tomorrow before playing the Panthers on Sunday in PNC Arena at 1:00pm