The option was to yank him after the 4th or 5th goal to give him a rest. IF DC isn’t willing to do that then they aren’t starting Michelone.
DC hasn’t touched the lines with the exception of injuries etc. You have Barlas out there wasting away on the 4th line. He has some jam. If Gardiner is injured then he shouldn’t play. If he isn’t injured, wasting him on the 4th line is plain silliness.
Kressler is -5 with one goal in the last four playoff games. Foster a -6 with 2 assists over the same stretch. Korbler is a -6 with one assist over his five playoff games. WTF is that line still doing together? It is insanity. Barlas has two goals and is a +1 over those four games. Time to mix things up FFS. I swear to GAWD if DC rolls out the same lines and D-Pairings, I will lose my shit.
Mayich will return Tuesday for game 3 so that will help. The defense looks over-worked, out-matched and frustrated, and Smyth is (again) playing way too much at important times. They have been essentially playing as a 5-man unit against a really tough opponent.
I'm interested to see the team's response on Tuesday night, in terms of effort and Cameron's gameplan. The 67s will have last change so Cameron will be able to get his preferred unit out against Roobroeck/Ritchie/Sennecke. I suspect that will be the Mayich/Marrelli pairing, and likely the Kressler line. It wouldn't hurt to try something different of course. You mentioned Barlas and there is no reason to think he can't provide more jam on that 1st line than Korbler.
I've long thought that Korber is out of his depth in the top-6 and would be more useful in a 4th line role at this point.
Then again, Oshawa can split up that top line and the 67s wouldn't necessarily have a good answer to that.
I presume Gardiner is nursing some sort of injury and that is why he is not playing much.
Overall though, I think these are fairly minor points and this series is essentially over. I thought going in that the 67s would have a really difficult time and that what the 67s were able to do well against Brantford wouldn't hold against a better Oshawa team. MacKenzie will need to suddenly provide A+ goaltending for the 67s to win a game, let alone the series, and I think that's a lot to ask for a goaltender that has had the year he has had with injuries.