Quote:
Originally Posted by KpopandHockey
Boyle didn't look very good on the PK today, would it be possible for the sharks to play without him on the PK? Would make him use up less ice time. Not sure how viable that would be.
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His mobility and chemistry with Murray is very key. Murray is the answer on the PK when the team needs to clear bodies from the front. However, if you don't put Boyle on the PK, you have to pair Murray with someone else. That means having to brake up another pairing with great chemistry, or not utilizing Murray at all, which means the bulk of the physical assignments go to Wallin. Having Boyle-Murray, Vlasic-Demers, and White-Wallin gives us a stalwart defensive dman and some mobility on each line. It also lets you "roll" your defensive pairs on the PK; all three pairings get PK time, and this lets them get in a rythm and prevents unequal distribution of ice time (like we saw in Game 3 of the first round).