11/7 is a less than ideal roster makeup. I don't know how long that will last with Luke Hughes before they trust him completely and go 12/6. Last game they won but had to play Bahl 6 minutes in place of another forward running 4 lines, which seems pointless.
So the team decided 12/6 without Luke was better than 11/7 with Luke (apparently considering 11/7 necessary to even risk putting Luke in) until the canes made it clear they had to get him into the lineup.
As to "well Makar and McAvoy looked great" idk all these guys are different, I don't remember exactly COL/BOS roster makeups but Ruff trusted Smith/Bahl over Luke based on what he saw and it's really not that crazy to me from a risk management perspective, especially if you think you have the better team (as NJ did over NY). The NHL is very difficult, Luke Hughes is a tremendous talent but it's a tough league and glorious scoring chances especially in OT can kill your entire season.
Posted this in April:
Makar was 20 during the 2018-19 Playoffs, almost a whole year older.
Their defensive pairs were Zadorov-Barrie, Girard-E. Johnson, Cole-Nemeth.
Makar didn’t play in the Game 1 (0-4 L) or Game 2 (3-2 OT W) vs Calgary.
Girard got injured so Makar replaced him for Game 3. Makar mostly played with Nemeth, the Avs won the series in 5 games.
Girard came back to play San Jose in the 2nd Rd and Nemeth was scratched. Makar played with Girard.
After the Avs went down 3-2 in the series, Bednar threw Nemeth back in there and went to 7-11. Makar still played with Girard though.
So Makar first got in due to injury and Colorado had a worse defensive core. I still think Luke will most likely play at some point, don’t underestimate how much elite skill levels the playing field.
The Michigan goalie really wants to see Luke in the Devils lineup on Saturday.
forums.hfboards.com
(Makar’s ice times were in the original post in case anyone cares.)
Going by ice times it’s pretty clear Bahl would get scratched with Graves out.