Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
I’m not faulting Gaudreau that much in the POs when everyone underperformed. I’m just not blaming his linemates. Seems like a cop out to me.
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I don't think it's a cop-out, but I also think every playoff has been different.
Hudler was pretty awful in the 2015 playoffs, after being our MVP all season. Monahan was okay for a second year pro, but he wasn't really 1C level vis-a-vis teams that had legit 1Cs in Henrik Sedin and Ryan Getzlaf.
The pair of Monahan and Ferland played very well in the 2017 playoffs, and I thought Gaudreau was actually the third best player on that line. But either way, John Gibson stoned every chance that went his way in that series.
In the 2019 playoffs, it's tough to even talk about forwards because our three of our top four defensemen (Giordano, Hanifin, Hamonic) were playing some of the worst hockey of their career. However I felt Lindholm was pretty invisible on that line, and it wasn't a surprise that the only goals that Gaudreau's line produced came when Bennett was promoted to that line in his place. I think Lindholm played better on Backlund's line. I wasn't impressed with Monahan or Gaudreau. What I do remember though is that Gaudreau had a strong final game, but the score didn't reflect that.
In the 2020 playoffs, I thought the entire Gatorade line was pretty bad and really shouldn't even have been together at that point. That said, towards the end it seemed like Gaudreau was heating up, and his final game was yet again probably his best game. It felt like if Talbot didn't let the team down with a 3-0 lead, Gaudreau would have been far more productive for the final games of the series. My biggest takeaway from the 2020 playoffs though, was how much Rieder-Backlund-Mangiapane struggled as a line. It wasn't just poor percentages... it was being
outplayed. The second line really missed Matthew Tkachuk.