I've tempered my expectations of this team. For whatever reason, they seem to be having difficulty with the simplest things, like passing and general puck handling. Teams know that if you press, they'll turn it over. That's one reason the power play is so bad. The other is they generally seem hesitant to take a shot, especially Johansen.
Maybe a sports psychologist could help.
- FoxMulder
Johansen has always been reluctant to shoot. He's more facilitator than goal scorer, almost always looking for the pass first. It's not a trait he's recently developed this season, he's always been that way. Otherwise, I agree with you entirely. I've heard some good banter on the mindset of this team in recent days that I tend to agree with. The weight of the expectations going into this season really seems to be weighing on them, especially now that it's kind of obvious the team was probably never quite good enough to meet them. They don't look like they're having fun out there at all. Even when they get a lead, they look like a team watching the clock like a bunch of nervous wrecks waiting for something to go wrong... When you play like that well... Guess what happens. It's hard to believe this is almost the exact same team that's worse stretches last year were two three game losing streaks, and seemed to have an otherworldly gear once they got into the 3rd period. Now they give up a couple of goals and you feel like the game is over. It's not hard to see that this teams issues run a lot deeper than just what you see on the stat sheet.
