I didn't think Stralman played a bad game other than that Jagr goal. It was the only time I saw him make a mistake. While Larson looks like the best offensive defenseman on the team, I saw him make 2-3 big positional mistakes that lead to odd man chances and one that was almost a breakaway. I think Larson will make the team for his offensive abilities right now; not really for his ability to be sound defensivelly. At times he looks great defensively, but he looks like he needs to get used to some things first.
I thought Kovalchuk was absolutely terrible tonight. Some may disagree, but I thought he dragged that line down. He had to have doubled anyone on the team in turnovers. I'm starting to become very disappointed in his inconsistancy. Even when Parise has an off game offensively, he always plays sound in the other two zones.
I also think Parise and Elias need Zubrus on that line. He's big, can protect the puck, and is a decent playmaker. Plus I think we might be able to get some scoring depth from Sykora on the 3rd line.
From what I've seen from Henrique, He looks ready to do some damage, but I don't know who his wingers would be. Clarkson, Sykora, and Tedenby are all possibles. It will be interesting to see who makes up that 3rd line.
Overall, not bad, but losses are never really good. I think it's important that this team wins the next two games, no matter who is in the line-up. This team has shown that they can have confidence issues. Losing is not something they want to get used to.