Like you guys, I'm on record as preferring Flower tonight as a comeback opportunity; but I'm not going to second guess HCMS......well, unless MM ends up having a bad game tonight
But this call makes it pretty clear on where Sully is on his goaltending; Murray is
clearly his guy, and he has no intention of sitting him with Flower coming off the bad game and now that he's (apparently) 100% healthy. I
do hope RON is proven correct about MM's superior rebound control versus Flower, though I don't think he's been that bad at rebound control during these playoffs. But it's not like the Sens have exactly peppered the Pens goal with shots (at least in 2 of the first 3 games) as the Craps did.
Presumably, this decision was mostly about the 1st and 4th GA the other night.....first, when Flower failed to account for Hoffman on the 1st goal (when he took advantage of the favorable carom of the end boards) and left the near post completely uncovered. Then, he lapsed into old-time-Flower when Smith undressed him on that 4th wraparound, which pretty much broke the team's back (and any resolve it still had).
So, Sully is placing a fair amount (if not most) of the Game 3 loss on Flower's shoulders, which may or may not be fair. Yes, he largely collapsed on his team; then again, I didn't see anyone come close to picking Flower up either (even though the injuries have the deck stacked against the Pens no matter who's in the cage). Guess today is an example of the benefits of a $5.75 million paycheck, which will still cash no matter how bummed (or pissed off) you happen to be.
But it also tells me one more thing which has nothing to do with this series; there's not much chance the team's goal is to find a means to keep both Murray
and Flower next season. Meanwhile, it really shouldn't take much.....I mean, the first goal will do for starters......to turn around the Pens' attitude tonight. Let's just hope the injuries.....and man, are they missing those three guys......don't totally short-circuit everything they bring to the rink tonight (as was the case on Wednesday).
Oh, and is there
anyone on the four remaining playoffs teams more overdue for a bad game......or at the very least, a misplay or two.....than
Craig Anderson ??? Finally, something is telling me the Sens have gotten
very cocky since we went to bed after Game 3. I think a case can be made they're ripe to get knocked off after
so many things went right for them in two of the first three games.
