Heres my sizzling hot take: The pens will win this series and make it to the second round atleast. Sully will shake up the line-up a bit and it will be enough for a while.
Now, if they make more lineup changes, we'll be cooking with gas...
Zucker - Crosby - Horn
Guentzel - Malkin - Rust
McCann - Rodrigues/Blueger - Tanev
Lafferty - Rodrigues/Blueger - Sheary
Letang - Dumo
Marino - Pettersson
Ruhwedel - Riikola
Jarry
PP
Rust - Horn - Malkin - Crosby - Letang
You literally just proved my point, so thank you. You're one of the people who's incapable of understanding nuance that I was exactly referring to.
I don't understand how it's hard to understand the thought of "Riikola is better than Johnson, but Riikola himself sucks and replacing Johnson with Riikola probably wouldn't have changed the outcome in game 3", but alas you're in that group who somehow can't.
And you didnt get what I was saying. Replacing JJ with Riikola would have made a difference not just in game 3 but whole series as well. Because you are Riikola hater you think otherwise and thats why people think what they think when you mention him. Thats the whole point.
ZAR out of the line up? Yes!
As boring and vanilla as I think ZAR is, now is not the time to remove him from the lineup. Removing him from the "4th" line now just leaves the Pens with two "reliable" lines (being Crosby's and Malkin's). Taking ZAR away from Blueger and Tanev makes them severely less effective, which is not what is needed right now.
I don't know about this part, because I've been pretty disappointed with the 4th line so far, but yeah I really don't see what Lafferty did in game 3 that suggests he should be in over ZAR in this game.
Lafferty had a good start to Game 3, but then made far too many mistakes. He was then got less than 2 minutes in the second and I have no idea how few he got in the third. Sully is looking for reliability, which is something neither Lafferty nor (likely) Riikola will provide at this point in time.
Which is also why I, unfortunately, think Marleau won't be scratched. But watch him have a big game today.
I'll be getting take out from a location restaurant right before the Pens game. Nachos, wings if they have any, and a growler fill of beer.
But which place do I get it from? I love both of the places' nachos nearly equally. One place I know for sure has wings and their draft list online - a draft list I don't care too much for. The other place I'm not sure if they have wings, but I can add meat to the nachos. And their draft list isn't listed, but they've had some good choices when I've gone before.
What a conundrum.
For those in Pittsburgh, this is a Dive (Lawrenceville) vs. Fire Side Public House (East Liberty) decision.
Now, if they make more lineup changes, we'll be cooking with gas...
Zucker - Crosby - Horn
Guentzel - Malkin - Rust
McCann - Rodrigues/Blueger - Tanev
Lafferty - Rodrigues/Blueger - Sheary
Letang - Dumo
Marino - Pettersson
Ruhwedel - Riikola
Jarry
PP
Rust - Horn - Malkin - Crosby - Letang
Wow.Taking ZAR away from Blueger and Tanev makes them severely less effective, which is not what is needed right now.
I will play devil's advocate here a bit, and that is not to say I feel for MM as well (and I am MM doubter) Thing is everyone loses parents sooner or later. It is a fact of life. They die young (my niece and nephew were 2 when their mom died) Other players lose parents as well. It is when this happens that you get to see mentally strong from mentally week person. Look at Marty St. Louis from several years ago. His mom died when playoffs were about to start in 2014. He had really good series and playoffs. He took what happened and channeled it into something amazing, something that helped him still be a really good player. That death was sudden and very unexpected, MMs father was not. It is never easy, thats for sure, but I think it shows a bit what his mental state in general is when his play went completely downhill since this happened. I would understand if it was for remainder of that season and maybe pats of next, but this has happened 3 years ago, it is time for him to either put that hurt behind him and get his career back in line, or keep throwing away what could have been a great career and perish. He has his whole life to look towards to, gf, getting married, becoming father himself and so on.
Wow.
Trust me, Blueger and Tanev don't need ZAR.
Tanev is being wasted on that 4th line and I believe he can thrive in a top 6 role.
Jake Sid Zucker
McCann Malkin Rust
Tanev Rodrigues Hornqvist
Sheary Blueger Lafferty
Pettersson Letang
Dumo Marino
Riikola Ruhwedel
that would be my lineup for today