After watching Game 3, one thing is clear; Jeff Schultz and
Dennis Wideman are not working out as a defensive pairing. Boston has scored 6 goals in the three games
played and 4 of the 6 have been scored while Schultz and Wideman were on the
ice. Each of the D-men are -4 for the series, tied for worst of the playoffs
with Evgeni Malkin. An eyeball test has
consistently verified Schultz struggles on the defensive end, however I had no
idea Wideman was so weak on the back end. In
the past 22 games Schultz has played 111:01 minutes and registered a -9. Schultz was at his worst when the Caps took
on the Sabres towards the end of the regular season. The 6’6” defensemen logged a -2 in 5:07 of
ice time—and did not touch the ice for the remainder of the season. Wideman, during the same time span played in
27 games, recorded a -14 with 1 goal and 7 assists. Why would Dale Hunter put two of the worst
defensive defensemen on a same line? Your guess is as good as mine. Wideman and Schultz are clearly liabilities on
the defensive end. Off
ice coaching adjustments will play a huge part in the outcome of this
series—Dale needs to switch it up.
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
The only move to make is to activate Orlov. They can't split up Green/Hamrlik or Alzner/Carlson.
ReplyDelete