It's only not a typical starter/backup situation because the team actively chose not to play the statistically better goalie as much as they probably should have.
It was inevitable because Deanius is an idiot and what we are witnessing is him willfully torpedoing the post season again. The guy is completely lost.
Which is further than we've ever gotten since....again.....I'm not for it. Just saying it has been done before is all.
Only difference is that one of those goalies hadn't proven himself to be the much better option throughout the entirety of the regular season.
Exactly. And if I recall, JL did go with the winning goalie until he struggled. Then he changed it up. Manny saved the Colorado series, while Roli saved the Vancouver one. The rotating worked for that situation.
I think everyone agrees with this completely.
I don't like Messier, so I hate agreeing with him so completely. I've never seen a coach give a clearly inferior goalie a game for no apparent reason in the playoffs before.
And even JL stuck with the hot hand. It just changed from one series to the next which was hot.
Yes, but he also just played an absurd amount and they also played the Robertson and Hintz line against them preferred too. We lost that matchup heavily, so hope Dean can get them away from that line where the turnovers will be much less costly. Heiskanen is going to be on the ice half the game either way so avoiding him is unlikely. But we can at least do better about not giving glorious chances over and over to their only real scorers.
That’s true. How did it turn out in the finals? I trust Messier. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Probably would have lost with Hartman and Ek out anyway When they get 2-3 goals down they start pressing but 1-2 lines can’t get back in time and Dallas feeds off of the Wild press.
Everything the same, if they could stop taking penalties would be huge help. Home crowd will help refs to catch a couple Dallas infractions hopefully.
Agree totally with all 4 points.Biggest adjustments I would make for Game 3:
1. Gus over Fleury. This is obvious. Dean tried it and found out. Over and done with, but should definitely be remembered this offseason if the Wild lose in the 1st round. At some point the coach needs to be accountable for Bill Guerin's "it's about ****ing winning" comment. Guerin had a FANTASTIC deadline. This team has depth. Self inflicted wounds are throwing those superb moves down the drain. And if the "rumblings" that Guerin signed off on Fleury starting, then he deserves a lot of blame as well.
2. Nyquist on the wing opposite of Kaprizov. Zucc has not been good. I don't know if he needs a rest or if he's hurt or age is just taking it's toll. We need to see at least one game of Kaprizov with someone else. It's not going to be Boldy or Johansson, because we need some semblance of two scoring lines. So that leaves either Nyquist or Sundqvist. Nyquist is by far the best fit and honestly, his point totals and play driving deserve more time on ice.
3. Take Foligno off the second line. Foligno barely deserves to be in the lineup, let alone in the top 6. He's too slow. He's not skilled. He's your prototypical third liner. Get him away from any scoring line. Duhaime would have been a better option than Foligno. The smart move would be to have Gaudreau center that line. I don't know how we go into a game with Steel at 1C and Boldy, playing center for his first full game, at 2C
4. Swap Merrill out for Goligoski. Goligoski is more of an offensive dman, and he should get a game.
5. Hope to god that Hartman and Eriksson Ek are ready to go.
My ideal lineup:
Kaprizov-Hartman-Nyquist
Boldy-Eriksson Ek-Johansson
Sundqvist-Gaudreau-Zuccarello
Duhaime-Dewar-Reaves
Brodin-Dumba
Middleton-Spurgeon
Goligoski-Faber
Gus
Fleury
