Quote:
Originally Posted by CroFlames
McDavid with only 25:33 of TOI last night. Of course, it is a few minutes more than the next closest player on either team, but I thought he'd be pushing 28-29 minutes for sure.
It is amazing how much they rely on him. If this series goes 0-2, he'll be pushing 30+ minutes in game 3 guaranteed.
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Right now Sutter is playing Chess, Woodcroft is playing go fish. He's smart enough to know that the Flames pretty much dominated last night's affair and it was the Oilers best shot because of Markstrom's game.
So his panic response is going to be to crank up McDavid's ice time. Sutter wants that, he knows its inevitable and he's already told the team, whenever you can hammer him, lean on him, grind him on the board do it, because it will pay off as McDavid tires out and becomes less effective.
I mean at this point, are you going to stop McDavid in a playoff series? Unlikely, but if you batter him and bruise him and make him sore and tired, he becomes less of a factor and more of a hobo zombie.