Quote:
Originally Posted by shadowlord
I've noticed (and not just the last game where it directly lead to a SH-goal against) that Hanifin gets beat quite often. He's either not a very fast skater, or wouldn't be the ideal other D on PP2.
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Actually, if you could go back and watch the few seconds before the battle at the blue line between Hanifin and Couturier, you can see that there was another very poor play that directly lead to Hanifin having to try to hold the line.
Neal ringed the puck around the boards from the left circle where it was cut off at the right circle by Derek Ryan who subsequently tried to ring it back behind the net. Normally this is pretty standard to try to gain zone possession and spread out the PK'ers, but Ryan's dump back to Neal was a muffin as soft as butter with 2 Flyers converging onto that track. I forgot who the Philly player was but he cut off that dump back before it even got to behind the net and subsequently flipped it to the blue line where Hanifin tried to keep the line.
Then we all know what transpired. I blame Ryan for that goal for a very weak play on the PP.