From the Blueland Blog, here are tonights combinations:
Kovalchuk- White- Slater
Kozlov- Perrin- Dupuis
Larsen- Holik- Boulton
Sterling- Little- Haydar
Zhitnik- Havelid
Klee- Exelby
McCarthy- Enstrom
Lehtonen
Hedberg
A few thoughts:
It is good to get Sterling and Kovalchuk separated, as it seemed like every time on the ice they both ended up on the left side in a crowd. Also, how exciting is that last line going to be? Haydar and Sterling were two thirds of the dominant line in Chicago last year that ran up incredible numbers, and throw Little in there, it should be very fun to watch those kids.
I still don’t understand why Chris Thorburn is not in the lineup. He played just over 4 minutes against Ottawa, registering 2 shots and played very well. He brought physical play, and even generated unexpected scoring chances. Can anyone argue that he shouldn’t be playing over a guy like Brad Larsen who is a -5 and who has been on the ice for a grand total of, get this, 9 goals against?
I thought after the game in Buffalo on Thursday that Hedberg would be in net tonight. Lehtonen let in 5 goals on 20 shots, and when Hedberg came in, he played very well. Hopefully Kari will be able to come out and play better than he has been, and the Thrash can finally get one in the win column.
