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No Samuelsson at Wings' morning skate
Mikael Samuelsson wasn't on the ice this morning. Kris Draper was practicing as though he was going to play. Here are the lines they worked out of ...
Franzen-Zetterberg-Hudler
Holmstrom-Filppula-Hossa
Draper-Helm-Cleary
Leino-Abdelkader-Maltby
Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Ericsson-Lebda
Osgood
Conklin
Hudler is back up on Zetterberg's line. Perhaps they're anticipating not nearly as much Crosby time for that line and thus a defensive droppoff from Cleary to Hudler is palatable. The fourth and second lines remain intact. The new third line with Draper and Cleary on the wings is a pretty good checking unit if they're out for much time against Malkin or Crosby.
Franzen-Zetterberg-Hudler
Holmstrom-Filppula-Hossa
Draper-Helm-Cleary
Leino-Abdelkader-Maltby
Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Ericsson-Lebda
Osgood
Conklin
Hudler is back up on Zetterberg's line. Perhaps they're anticipating not nearly as much Crosby time for that line and thus a defensive droppoff from Cleary to Hudler is palatable. The fourth and second lines remain intact. The new third line with Draper and Cleary on the wings is a pretty good checking unit if they're out for much time against Malkin or Crosby.
posted by Chuck Pleiness at
11:43 AM
2 Comments:
If samuellson can't go... helm-draper-cleary might be the fastest line on the ice with a 94% face-off chance, even if one gets tossed. They don't have the scoring threat that samuelsson offers, but who cares, they're going to control the play when they are out there.
Ahh, so that's why Samuelsson sat the last ten minutes of game 2. I thought that was a curious decision. (The other two guys who sat were Abdelkader and Holmstrom, for what it's worth. Those aren't curious decisions.)
That third line may match up well against Crosby and Malkin in the neutral and offensive zones, but they're definitely not a line you'd send out for a defensive zone faceoff against Pittsburgh's big boys. If they get bottled up, they'd be in almost as much trouble as the fourth line. They've got a lot of speed, but they lack the poise, vision, and intelligence with the puck that make guys like Lidstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk so good in their own zone.
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