mechaphil wrote:
Gerbe's goal, with the lifted puck decoy and the spin-o-rama, was better as a standalone goal.
But Vanek's, what it meant and how he did it and how he reacted, made it that much more awesome.
Is it me or does the guy just look more confident than ever? It like he looked down the bench and the lightbulb turned on that this is his team. The biggest difference...he owns the ice he skates on every night. You just see it when he skates.
Where's the hole in his game that people used to crucify him about in the past? The non-existent "laziness" that people seemed to always tag him with? IMO, it wasn't laziness, it was a bit of difficulty learning his game without the puck on his stick. Well that's gone now.
After hitting as many posts and being a bit snake-bitten, the Vanek of a few years ago may have went back to passing first and shooting second. Last night, it was one of those "chocolate meets peanut butter" nights. A perfect pass to Pominville and good positioning in OT, and cashing in on a favorable bounce of the puck. Sure he's had better statistically seasons, but 32 goals and 31 assists being the player teams look first to shut down, especially with no Derek Roy for them to contend with?
...and he's going into the playoffs on an upswing. Philly made a big mistake conceding that point. I'll take the Miller/Briere v. Vanek/Bobrovsky matchup every day of the week and twice on gameday.