Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
It's weird because Sutter played in an era where you did appoint a shadow to a guy like Gretzky.
|
Sutter actually did staple their best shutdown/offensive centre to that line... Lindholm was fantastic that year both offensively and defensively. He finished second in Selke votes, and it seemed to me that he had developed into the next Patrice Bergeron. That line made a lot of sense matching up with McDavid that year.
To me, the team just played into the Oilers run and gun system too much, after winning that opening 9-6 barn burner (which followed a 9-5 win in their last regular season meeting). I think the players ended up thinking they could simply outscore the Oilers... and didn't need to stick to the defensive system that had them beat Dallas.