Comment 1) Good defensive effort from the Raptors overshadowed by toothless offensive performance

The raptors managed to play a game where they limited their opponent to only a minuscule 16 shots and still come out on the wrong side in the end. With the exception of a fine play in the second period leading to a goal by Simothy Drunkebird, the Raptors failed to get any more past Steven Vassallo and the Newfoundland defense. The Beserkers did a great job keeping the Colorado shot attempts to the outside in the defensive zone, which allowed their goaltender to make the rather routine saves, with only a few real dangerous chances throughout the entire game. It leads to a rather disappointing result for Colorado, and highlights the strides this team must make to improve.

Comment 2) Steven Vassallo shines with stellar performance

There is no question that tonight's unsung hero is Steven Vassallo of the Newfoundland Beserkers. His performance in net saving 19 out of 20 shots kept his team ahead and ensured a tight victory. He was especially instrumental at the very end of the game while Colorado had already pulled their goalie and was buzzing around in the offensive zone trying to score the equalizer. A shot by Daniel Kuster was stoppbed by Vassallo, but the puck went in the air towards the far side of the net, where a determined Chris Cerullo was charging hard to put the rebound away. Vassallo calmly slid over and caught the ensuing shot with his glove to effectively put the game away for good.

Comment 3) Unfocused game by Samat Beibitzhanov costs his team chance at points

On the other end of the goalie spectrum was Colorado goaltender Samat Beibitzhanov, who if you only looked at the score, you would have assumed he had a pretty good night. Unfortunately for Colorado, this was not the case tonight. Despite a solid effort in limiting Newfoundland to only 16 shot attempts the entire game, Samat Beibitzhanov managed to let 2 get by him. The first goal by Slap Potts was a wrister form a sharp angle that somehow managed to beat him low, while the second was a partially screened shot from the point by Cody that it looked like he simply failed to see. Colorado has to hope Samat shakes this performance off and comes into next game focused.