Therrien's idea of accountability in the midst of a 4-12-1 run: scratch a third liner.
Ruff's idea of accountability in the midst of a 2-5-0 run: bench Seguin and Benn in the third period of last night's game and split them up in practice.
This.
Therrien calls out his best players without naming them, during his post-game scrum yesterday and then follows that up with benching ... Fleischmann?
DSP claims he was upset about not being in the lineup for the Winter Classic, claimed he now knew what was expected of him, even had a meeting with Therrien about it and came out flat during yesterday's game. No consequence.
Pacioretty with a recent declaration to reporters that there would be "consequences" should the team not change its ways. The consequence? Fleischmann gets benched.
Fleichmann is not alone in terms of subpar performances, but the fact that he is such an easy target, a guy on a one-year deal who may not have a future with the team next year, who was one of the last players to make the team -- that's rather cowardly and doesn't cause one dent to this rather complacent bunch.
Therrien will not sit Pacioretty, Subban or Plekanec, all of whom have been putrid. However, there are others with greater standing on the team than Fleischmann who could have been sat. The fact that they weren't, says something about Therrien.