Albany Devils on the ice

The Albany Devils did not score a goal in Hershey,although I thought they had several good chances to score in a 3-0 loss.

The main problem was that Braden Holtby was on fire and when the talented Holtby is on his game,NHL teams have problems,let alone AHL ones.
Jacob Josefson missed a wide open net in what I thought was the only blown opportunity as the rest of the misses were on all on Holtby making strong saves.
Josefson played well and took the puck towards the net with the type of abandon that he has often lacked in the big time.

Adam Henrique played well,but didn't have a ton of scoring chances.
I did like the hustle that Henrique showed as it would be easy for him to skate through his AHL time.

Adam Larsson did not play poorly,but something makes me think that he might have been better served playing last season in Albany and then trying to make the move up.
Larsson just seems a bit tentative,which might be an example of a player that has been rushed a bit.
I still like Larsson's potential a great deal,but he may be in need of development time that the lockout could help give.

Mattias Tedenby continues to tease with his skills and potential that never seem to end in points.
Tedenby has the talent to be a sparkplug in the lineup,but it appears that his lack of size is working against him.

Keith Kinkaid was solid enough in goal and made one spectacular save.
Kinkaid is one of four young goalies battling to be the heir apparent to Martin Brodeur and is the only one at Albany of thegroup,although he is the oldest as well...

Harri Pesonen was imported from Finland over the off season and I was impressed with the grit of Pesonen.
Often,the imports that are assigned to the AHL prove to be disappointments,but I liked Pesonen's play.

I also liked David Wohlberg,who showed some fire in the open ice as well.
Wohlberg might be someone to take notice of.

Brandon Burlon didn't throw his weight around as much as I had hoped.
Burlon will need to be a physical player to succeed and I did not see as much of that as I would have liked in his game.

Bobby Butler,Mike Hoeffel and Mike Sislo were non-descript and I have little to add about their evening.

Jay Leach is expected to provide veteran leadership,but he committed a dumb interference penalty that led to a Hershey goal and often seemed slow and out of position....

Back later tonight from the road office with a non-coverage post...

Photo Credit:Rachel Heimberger