Dallas absolutely put the clamps on us, and I guess Otter had his best game of the playoffs according to some on the main board. This is a veteran team, and with their record in game 1's I'm not as optimistic about being tied as some on here seem to be. They have made some adjustments that really gave us fits for most of the game.
I feel our team D has overall been good, but that our D pairs could be improved. Skinner has been good, but lucky too with lots of posts and pucks getting by him. If that luck turns, it could get ugly.
Since being split up, Ceci is a plus player with a game 7 goal. Nurse is a minus player with nothing and multiple goals he has been at fault for. Ceci has his gaffs too, I'm not saying he hasn't caused goals against either. But Nurse needs a puckmover, like he had in his best seasons with Barrie and Vinny is not that, too many firedrills where speedy forwards get behind them and they cant clear the puck. Also we are stacking our 2 best D, limiting our depth. It's downright scary when either bottom pair is out there this series and the forwards lose the puck.
I know Ek has been huge for Bouch. But Evan is a 40 year old man now, swinging his big dick all over the place these playoffs. He doesn't need a baby sitter, Mr. 9.25 does though. I propose
Nurse-Bouch
Ek-Ceci
Kulak-Desharnais
Vinny (also a minus player since the switch.) goes back to where he looked great, beside Kulak on the bottom pair. Nurse/Bouch had worked before, and Evans calmness and ability to completely control an offense from the backend would allow Nurse to just worry about defending, but would also open Nurse up for rushes with Evans gravity. Ek, the wily vet is the one who can best cover for Ceci's brainfarts. Ceci/Vinny could be swapped I suppose too, but Vinny just looked real good with Kulak and doesn't really need Ek's steadiness as much.
I guess if we're down, we could always throw that 5 man unit out that was so good vs the Nucks. But for Dallas, we need some better depth on the backend, and the only way to do that is split the top pair up. If our top pair is currently an A+, our bottom pairs are both C-, and splitting them up, we get 3 B's, I think we are better off.
And get Mcleod out for a game, and maybe Foegele too. Foegs atleast plays with some drive, just man, we need him to muster up some finishing ability. I'd like to see Gagner for a game, along with the obvious Henrique. A Gags goal at Roger's would blow the roof off, and could be a goal that's worth a lot more than 1 on the scoresheet for the team. That guy gets one and it will fire everyone else up.