We often hear about how important it is for a team to have a strong shift after scoring or allowing a goal. Occasionally this leads to coaches deploying their “energy line” right after a score, well after J.Staal tied Tuesday’s game for the Hurricanes Barry Trotz elected to role out his new-look second line… and it almost paid off for him.
While they haven’t spent a lot of time together as a trio, Kuznetsov has spent a decent portion of his season with one player or the other and the “advanced stats” look good with both.
| Player with Kuznetsov | TOI | GF% | CF% |
| Burakovsky | 418:48 | 54.5 | 52.5 |
| Oshie | 226:30 | 68.4 | 54.2 |
The sample with Oshie isn’t small but it’s unlikely that 92 and 77 will have a GF% of ~70% over the long haul. The new-look second line created a lot of chances in their first game together and will be at it again during tonight’s game versus the Predators.