I think it's safe to move the Higgins line to the top. Really about the only line that's played well the past month. Hopefully we bust out of our slump and score some goals.
Alberts and Gragnani are so bad. Tanev didn't have his best game last night (played 5 minutes more than regularly though) but still miles ahead of those two guys. If they are both in the lineup at any point during playoffs, it's going to get ugly.
And for the record, I don't really have anything against Luongo, I think he is one of the best goalies in the league but based on this season, I honestly think we are not icing the best possible team when he's playing and Schneider is sitting. It's got nothing to do with Lui, it's just that IMO Schneider has passed him.
I think it's safe to move the Higgins line to the top. Really about the only line that's played well the past month. Hopefully we bust out of our slump and score some goals.
I think that he's going to stay with Pahlsson and Hansen. They have been playing well together and are eating up the bulk of the 5 on 5 minutes along with the Kesler line while Daniel is on the shelf.
Our bottom six in general has been really effective recently, including the fourth line (though I'd like to replace Weise, but he'll either be knocked down by Bitz I think or Kassian when Daniel returns). Top six has been a bit of a mess to be honest...Raymond and Booth have played pretty well, Kassian was alright last night but Kesler, Henrik, and Burrows have been struggling.
C'mon any option is better then Alberts!! Please, please never play him again. He is so brutally out of position and playing him with Grags; they should have been scores at least 5 times last night that I noticed.
The Ballard one is a bit iffy, he could be in a similar spot that he was in last playoffs because of his long layoff.
I think AV is experimenting right now and getting a feel for who can swap in and out on different lines and D pairings.
Yeah, I agree with this. I hope Daniel is healthy and ready to go in the playoffs (I'm hoping the time apart for Hank/Burr/Daniel will re-ignite that line once again). I'm a little worried about how Kesler and Raymond will play together, though.
So I was at the game last night and the crowd noise was on my mind because of that thread we had here. I did actually think the crowd was a bit better last night than usual (for some reason), but I did start noticing that for 95% of the stoppages they just blast music and show people dancing on the 'tron. Basically, forget about hockey during the stops.
The loser of that game is done. If Col wins that game the atmosphere for Sat will be much less intense.
I don't think either of these teams makes the postseason, cuz they only have 2 & 3 games left after they play each other, and they are 2 -3 pts behind contention teams with 5 pts left.
Any preference on who wins between Cal and Col? I prefer Col so that the flames are less fired up on Sat.
And its amazing that the Pac comes down to 4 teams within 2 pts of each other and all with 5 games to play ... pretty much a crap shoot for those 4 teams ...
LA may have the easiest schedule with an home and away with Edm, though Edm is 5 - 2 -3 in their last 10.
