Not going to lie, but Henrique's a better fit with McDavid and Hyman than Nuge. He brings similar smarts, but that willingness to go to the net and the dirty areas opens up so much more ice for McDavid and Hyman.
A fantastic example is on Hyman's second goal: Henrique chases the puck on the boards, makes a quick pass to McDavid and then goes to the net, accidentally-on-purpose tying up to 2 Kings and stopping them from chasing Connor. With the defence tied up, Hyman was free to drift into the open slot and just wait for McDavid's pass. That sequence just doesn't happen with Nuge there.
As for RNH and Drai, I'm not concerned. Those two have shown to have good chemistry in the past, though I'm not sure Foegele is the right RW'er for that line. I have a feeling McLovin, Kane, and Holloway will rotate a lot depending on who's feeling it.
I'm also loving the subtle shift on the PP of having Nuge sneak down the LW side. I had concerns with the puck often getting stuck in the triangle of McDrai and Bouchard, well this forces those 3 to spread out far more, and introduces a new backdoor play.
They basically picked on the RD all night and forced them into a no-win decision once the PP got set up: Do you stay with Hyman near the net like Gabrikov, and let Nuge sneak in backdoor (see his goal); or do you shadow Nuge, and let Hyman stand alone in front of the net, like on his hat trick goal.
That defenceman also isn't going to get any help, lest they want to give McDavid, Drai, and Bouchard the numbers advantage.
