Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Let me put it like this.
Ruzicka and Monahan had similarly effective nights, but Ruzicka's night has the asterisk of "kid gloves treatment", both good and bad. I'm not hand-waiving that asterisk. But I am genuinely curious if the results in terms of scoring chance volume would have been any different if they swapped lines.
Ruzicka wasn't replacement level tonight. And I'm not just talking about goal events. Although faceoffs were not a strong suit on the night.
But yes, Ruzicka is not exactly Sean Couturier, Jordan Staal or Patrice Bergeron in terms of complete game. Neither is Monahan.
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Well, having watched the game (and I recall you didn’t really) I can say Monahan was a lot better than Ruzicka (and Backlund) and pretty much on par with Lindholm. Is that linemates? Maybe partly, but it seemed like he was driving the line more than Dube or Lucic. Most people who commented figured he had a strong night, which makes a few in a row now.