The Moncton Wildcats were a different hockey club without “Big #9” in the lineup for a 8 to 10 minute span during Game 2. 10 minutes no doubt felt like an eternity for the Cats coaching staff not seeing Gabe Smith on the bench. You see that’s how valuable Smith has become for the Wildcats. Smith did return to the ice, but it was clear he was laboring out there and couldn’t get into full stride. The Utah Mammoth Prospect has been a dominant force for the Cats over the last two seasons and has become a “go to” playoff performer. “Gabe has been tremendous for us,” Wildcats Head Coach Gardiner MacDougall said after Game 2 during the postgame presser.
Saguenéens-Wildcats #2: Point de presse d’après-match | Postgame Press Conference
“He has been one of our most improved players all year. Gabe has a big heart, scores big goals for us and has made a real big difference, he has lots of grit and he will be looking forward to do the same thing next game,” MacDougall said.
MacDougall made it sound like he would be ready to go for Game 3 with those remarks, but that remains to seen. It’s hard to believe that Smith faced criticism from several pundits a short time ago. The negative vibes felt by the critics as soon as Smith touched the puck two seasons ago were quite something to witness. Very few ever thought Smith would ever have the kind of impact that he’s having on the organization now.
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Graham Black and the entire Wildcats training staff are amazing at what they do, but they’re not miracle workers. A lot of things can happen in two days rest in the playoffs, but things didn’t look good for Smith at the end of Game 2.
What happens if Smith can still go, but isn’t at 100%?
What will the Cats line up possibly look like if he’s unable to go?
The Wildcats depth and speed have been their strongest attributes all season long and it will be tested heading into Game 3. The Wildcats are deep through the middle and have several options. Clearly if Smith has limited mobility, a shift to the wing might be better suited and it just so happens that his two wingers have some experience playing through the middle, so look for Smith to be the swing guy up on the Cats forecheck structure.
If you take a look at the Sags winning goal, Smith was trying to get Voronin to be F1 on the forecheck because he knew he couldn’t get there and it was his side of the ice on the back check where Liam Lefebvre fired home the game winner. By no means was that Smith’s fault at all, but it does point to a potential issue for Game 3 if he’s not a 100% especially on the big ice.
MacDougall probably won’t throw the entire forward group in a blender, but he could elect to put Preston Lounsbury through the middle with that line and put Smith on the wing with Desnoyers and Mercier. He probably won’t touch Teddy Mutryn’s line, speaking of Mutryn, he’s been outstanding this season and is arguably turning into one of the most underrated two-way players in the circuit, his wingers need to get going and start driving offence like they did in the regular season.
Moving Lounsbury to the middle, is viable option if Smith isn’t good to go, but it’s pretty clear Lounsbury isn’t 100 percent either after blocking that shot in the Armada series and late in the 3rd period, Lounsbury didn’t take the face off when he was out with Voronin and Chudzinski. Riley Sampson and Grayden Robertson-Palmer haven’t seen much action during the last two series, with Robertson-Palmer in and out of the lineup for most of the playoffs. Both can definitely play through the middle and bring a ton of speed on the big ice. Nevertheless, with the big ice MacDougall might inject Robertson-Palmer into the line up. Sampson is very good in the face off dot and brings energy, character and grit to the line up and is skilled enough to play up and down the line and can skate like hell.
Teams don’t get to this place in the playoffs without being banged up, but there’s no question MacDougall definitely has a plethora of options if Smith isn’t at full capacity which speaks to the job his son and Wildcats General Manager Taylor MacDougall has done building this team. Countless players can be interchanged and rearranged in order to compete, it’s going to be very interesting to see what moves MacDougall makes behind the bench heading into Game 3.
“Slow it Down”
Sagueneens Head Coach Yanick Jean is notorious for the “match up game” he discussed playing the match up game and the Wildcats team speed after Game 2’s victory.
“I would say it’s more about our D’s especially after Christmas this year,” Jean said about finding the balance between playing the match up game and getting the right players out at the right time while keeping the momentum.
“We feel good about our D corps, they’re the leaders of our team, it’s more about the D’s matching up than the forwards matching up, because I don’t think we can play the way they play.”
“You know they play three lines, but for us we haven’t done that all year long so we got to make sure we keep playing our game, and they are going to keep playing their game, but on the D side it’s more where we need to make sure we have the right match up,” explained Jean.
Jean also stressed the importance of not deviating from their overall game plan and structure returning home for Game 3, but definitely trying to continue to slow the Wildcats attack down.
“It’s important for us to find ways to slow down their speed, I thought we were better at it tonight, we have to keep going that way and keep getting better at it in order that we don’t get caught flat footed on the bigger ice,” explained Jean during the postgame presser after Game 2.
The Quick Shift 