Pre-Game Talk: Penguins at Islanders | Game 4 | Tuesday May 7, 2013 | 7PM

[Pancakes]

I agree with you 100%, but just to chime in... I hope that Neal inserted back into the lineup does not drop Bennett out... The kid simply belongs in the lineup. He makes no or extremely manageable mistakes in play and with the puck. He is a great secondary scoring threat. And back checks like an absolute madman.

If it comes down to Neal or Bennett both at 100% in the lineup, you pick Neal simply because of his chemistry with Malkin. But if it comes down to Bennett being benched over Kennedy, Glass, Adams, etc... Then I pray DB see's BB's effort and play out there and plays him.

I won't be that mad if Kennedy comes in, even if it is at the expense of BB. I feel like Kennedy could be useful in this series with his speed and puck possession skills.

That said I'd hope Neal would come in, Glass sits, and BB stays in the lineup. But TK coming in wouldn't be terrible. If I'm not mistaken he's also scored quite a bit on the Isles over his career. Not that I read much into that, but you never know .

 

[Ugene Magic]

Neal could be all that's needed to get the lines back to the place where they now go and dominate again?

Kunitz, Crosby, Dupuis - It's not going to change other than mixing things up along the way.

Morrow, Malkin, Neal - Seriously, man up lazy and lazy.

Bennett, Jokinen, Iginla - This line is what gives them the advantage.

Cooke, Sutter, Adams - The shut down line.

 

[DoktorZaius]

Neal could be all that's needed to get the lines back to the place where they now go and dominate again?

Kunitz, Crosby, Dupuis - It's not going to change other than mixing things up along the way.

Morrow, Malkin, Neal - Seriously, man up lazy and lazy.

Bennett, Jokinen, Iginla - This line is what gives them the advantage.

Cooke, Sutter, Adams - The shut down line.

I would love this lineup because we'd be getting a more even minutes distribution among our forward core, and we wouldn't feel exposed by icing any of these lines. The ability to just keep rolling fresh, skilled lines all the way down is just something that other teams can't match.

 

[Giskard]

Neal could be all that's needed to get the lines back to the place where they now go and dominate again?

Kunitz, Crosby, Dupuis - It's not going to change other than mixing things up along the way.

Morrow, Malkin, Neal - Seriously, man up lazy and lazy.

Bennett, Jokinen, Iginla - This line is what gives them the advantage.

Cooke, Sutter, Adams - The shut down line.

Interesting lines, could work ... but if we don't play with fire, there's no line shifting that can help. Too many stupid passes and mental errors, especially in our D zone.

 

[Coach Travis]

Neal could be all that's needed to get the lines back to the place where they now go and dominate again?

Kunitz, Crosby, Dupuis - It's not going to change other than mixing things up along the way.

Morrow, Malkin, Neal - Seriously, man up lazy and lazy.

Bennett, Jokinen, Iginla - This line is what gives them the advantage.

Cooke, Sutter, Adams - The shut down line.

These are good lines but I think I'd rather see:

Dupuis-Crosby-Iginla: Sid & Duper are both going balls to the walls and I think this will show us how good Iggy can be on this team.

Kunitz-Malkin-Neal: To me, this gives us the highest probability of getting the Conn Smythe Malkin back

Morrow-Jokinen-Bennett: Very good scoring threat

Cooke-Sutter-Adams: Same as you have

 

[Tender Rip]

Neal could be all that's needed to get the lines back to the place where they now go and dominate again?

No, domination has to do with dealing what the Isles are doing to us. Not personnel.

Just like we beat the Isles 5-0 without Crosby, and the Isles went on to dominate a Pens team with Crosby despite him having 5 points in two games.

I surely think that some work can be done on getting more ideal lines, but we have to sort out our structural match-up problems in any case. Otherwise it is just Neal not getting to pucks and being caught when the Isles transition rather than Iginla, to take one example. And on both those accounts, Neal will likely suffer as much or worse than Bennett. Obviously there will be other benefits too, but for Neal to be effective, we still have to get to the offensive zone with some sort of purpose.