No way Joel Armia will skip a round
At Wednesday's practice, Joel Armia was alternating with Artturi Lehkonen, Jake Evans and Cedric Paquette on the fourth unit. Well, this morning, he was the official right winger of that unit, proving that it's almost impossible to scratch him from the lineup.
He is one of the best puck protectors on the team, along the boards, in front of the net (thanks to his nose) and on the power play.
With that said, here are the combinations that will come up tonight in front of Jesperi Kotkaniemi and the Carolina Hurricanes:
Drouin - Dvorak - Anderson
Hoffman - Suzuki - Gallagher
Toffoli - Perreault - Caufield
Lehkonen - Evans - Armia
Kulak - Petry
Chiarot - Wideman
Romanov - Savard
I really like the third line, who could certainly create something when they get on the ice.
On the defensive side, this face makes more sense, especially with Alexander Romanov getting the perfect partner in David Savard.
For Ben Chiarot, let's hope that Chris Wideman can get the puck out of the net to activate a hard-charging defense.
Not surprisingly, Jake Allen will find himself between the pipes trying to get his first win of the year.
