Joined: Oct. 2019
Posts: 382
Likes: 118
LONG POST ALERT:
This is what you would do, correct? I like it, except Raffl has played too well recently to be on line 4.
Watching the last few games, AV has no desire to scratch Thompson, and in all honesty we need him in there on the 4th line, just not as much ice time. People in all the forums are anti-Thompson. He shouldn't get that much ice time, but he definitely doesn't need to be scratched in a physical series like this. Canadiens are looking for blood, and we need a physical player that we can afford to put in the box if people start head hunting our top line. He brings a physicality that we struggled to match early in the series. Also, I don't see AV putting Raffl on line 4. Raffl has been rather effective, I'm not a huge fan of him on line 1 necessarily, like AV is, but that line has had its moments. He's probably gonna keep Bunnaman over NAK, Bunnaman played well in the last game. JVR will most likely be a healthy scratch again. I think we see similar lines in game 6 as game 5, but with all that said this is what I would do:
Farabee - Coots - Voracek
G - Hayes - TK
Raffl - Grant - Laughton
NAK - Thompson - Pitlick.
Now that brings us to the defensive issue.
Provy - Hagg. (I think this is a great solution, Hagg can fill in on the right side in a 1 game pinch, and has been MOSTLY solid, it also keeps the Sanheim -Myers pair in tact)
Sanheim - Myers (Chemistry pair right here)
Ghost - Braun (Ghost is about as sporadic as can be and thats being generous, pair him with mister reliable on the 3rd pair).
I love AV and think all the hype he's getting right now is warranted. He has had this team playing to their potential. The Canadiens are a bad stylistic matchup for us, and we hit a little snag. AV has got us in the right direction, and I don't mind his unique tweaks mid game, sending messages, evening out lines, because a lot of the times it works. Hakstol wouldn't change a thing, and it always drove me mad.
Finally, No need to panic, if we lose game 6, then I start to sweat.