Yes. I'd want to see Miro playing once with a D-man that can help his offensive qualities...he's had to play his entire career with either defensive D-men, absolute scrubs or both.

Oleksiak has been the best D he has played with in terms of skill...I think that says enough.

As unfortunate it is, Miro will never win Norris for his defensive qualities alone, he needs to be posting over PPG numbers for it. He needs better D partner for it.

Can't go wrong with a rock type guy to have his back. I think they would have one of the best top pairs in the league if he could find a long term partner who is skilled enough to play WITH him, not just play behind him, if you get what i'm sayin

He's having a really rough night

I look at what Klingberg's numbers were like when he was paired with Lindell and can only imagine that Heiskanen's would be insane with that kind of defensive support allowing him to push forward even more.

I would like to see them try these lines next year:
Robertson Hintz Pavelski
Benn Johnston Seguin
Marchment Domi Stankoven

Difference between Miro and Klingberg is massive though. One is able to play any role, the other was exclusively offensive.

Dellandrea SZN

The point I was trying to make is that I think pairing him with Lindell gives him the opportunities to put up the offensive numbers needed to be a Norris trophy winner, while being part of a rock solid top pair defensively.

Although in the same vein as your comments on Klingberg, Lindell could probably help Nils if they were paired together. I just think he's too talented to be playing on a 3rd pair.

Welp, looks like Jamie Benn will play again this season. How long before someone with Vegas provokes a fight with him in game 6?

Haha tell ya what I know...
Shaking my head early in the game w/ Dellandrea - thinking why is he dressed?

G.O.A.T. lol!

My game 6 lineup adjustment would be to sit Marchment now that Benn is back. Bench Suter and play Miller or Petrovic instead.

I wonder if anyone actually will, given how deep we are into this series. Both teams have really been trying to avoid penalties as much as they can. Although maybe Kolesar will go after him?

Will Butcher to the top pair.

Someone needs to Butcher Vegas' Will

My thinking for the pairings were:
Harley Heiskanen
Lindell Hakanpaa
Hanley Petrovic/Miller

I'd give Lundkvist a chance over Petrovic. Miller works too.

Just get rid of Suter though.

Ryan Suter reminds of Zdeno Chara (last years version)

@kdawg32086

Definitely sit Marchment. I'd go with

Top Line
Kivi Benn Seguin
Dellandrea Johnston Domi (They got great chem)
Olofsson Faksa Glenny (Great chem too)

Harley Heiskanen
Lindell Hak
Hanley Miller

I think Seb Aho did kind of the same thing when Tkachuk scored the game winner in game 4, Tkachuk was driving to the net and Aho went towards the goal post instead of Tkachuk for some reason, I spent a good while trying to figure out what Aho was doing

Just Ryan Suter doing typical Ryan Suter things...Stars fans are used to this now. He's got to have a big bet on Vegas or something...nobody can possibly be this big of a moron.

I hate to be the one to break this to Rangers fans, but Sammy Blais is gonna score 25-30 goals for the Blues next season. For 1M.

Who are his line mates even?

TBD, but he'll get PP2 time. He did have great chemistry with Schenn and Kapanen, though. There's a good chance he'll be with one of those guys most of the time.

@kdawg32086 @A_Habs_Fan

I missed this play when I was watching the game, and I haven't seen the video of it. But just from the still frame, I'm going to come to Suter's defense here. Assuming that this play didn't result in a goal. But even if it did, there is still a detail to take not of in this particular play.

I can't tell who it is, but the Vegas player is being somewhat pressured from behind. If Suter had a chance to see the puck carrier moving towards the net/see the play start to develop, he may have elected to not cover him on purpose, but for an actually purpose, not just being lazy. It looks like Suter is assuming that the pressure from behind the puck carrier will be enough to force the Vegas player to his backhand, or not allow him to cut so far to the inside that it is too much of a threat for Otter to handle. It looks like he is turning to cover the 2nd opportunity/rebound player for Vegas who is not in view on this image. Second chance defensive coverage as I'd like to call it. It's something you can afford to do in most scenarios. When you have a goalie as good as Otter, Vasy, Sorokin, Sheshterkin etc. You let them make the saves that you know they are capable of making, and you worry about not leaving him out to dry on the rebound. Vegas does this exact same thing with Hill. And I might add, it doesn't necessarily need to be a defensive playstyle used when you have a great goalie. It works well when you have a goalie who struggles to move side to side or control his rebounds. It's quite a productive way to play if everyone is on board and it is executed well.

I could be wrong due to my ignorance of the context of this play, but again, just from the image alone, that's my defense for Suter's decision here.

My best guess for Aho at the end of G4 is that he knew Reinhart was backdoor, and hard committing to Tkachuk would have allowed an easy backdoor pass to Reinhart. Aho, assuming that Freddie had full ability to push to the side, moved towards the back post to prevent Tkachuk from getting all the way across, but also made sure he stayed in the way of any cross-crease attempts, and kinda got himself caught in no-mans land. Hindsight proves that to be a wrong decision, but I can at least see what Aho was going for.

Suter's looks really weird because it's off a rush, and 2v1 defenders usually don't just abandon the middle of the ice in such a scenario.