25th coming up
Joined: Feb. 2020
Posts: 658
Likes: 268
**Habs fan's views coming in**
I don't understand the number of PIT fans wanting Jarry. I understand he had the better season, but Murray has been good this series. He's a .935%
To me, the real issue seems to be the PIT defense and it's not just Johnson, Marino had a great rookie season, but it's showing he's a rookie. Letang seems to be the only PIT defense that was noticed during the last game. The number of breakdowns and rushes that were allowed to MTL was stupid.
MTL has speed and can play fast, but it can also be trouble for them when they find their match. PIT should be looking to bring speed. It showed last night, PIT should be targeting MTL's duo of Ouellet and Mete, the former is sooo slow and the latter is 5'7. Tanev was having his way with them and he looked great.
MTL is playing a 3 lines game (with Domi as the wildcard on the 4th). I think the third line for MTL has been the best, whichever combination Julien goes for (Lehkonen/KK/Byron or Lehkonen/Danault/Byron). Lehkonen and Byron are the unsung heroes of this series for MTL. They are excellent defensively and are speedsters who have completely had their way this series. If we're matching lines in the order you placed here, it seems like a better matchup for MTL.
You PIT fans would know better, but I would think you'd need to either place emphasis on your fastest skaters or maybe balance your 4 lines? Maybe throw a Guentzel or Zucker on the bottom six? MTL's 4th is weak, defense is not Domi's strong suit, Weise is just bad, and Evans was injured last game, meaning Weal is probably gonna be back. That's the obvious target here to break MTL...