Murray talks Game 5 changes

Here’s what Terry Murray said, after today’s morning skate, about the decision to put Scott Parse in the lineup, in place of Alexei Ponikarovsky, and put Dustin Penner, Jarret Stoll and Kevin Westgarth together on a line…

MURRAY: “Against this San Jose team, they’ve got three dominant lines. I’ve said this before. They’ve got three lines that are as good as any team in the National Hockey League, and they can play the game any way you want, any way they want, so it’s important for us to play four lines. When you have your top guy out of the lineup like this, everybody has to dig in, check the proper way and play hard every shift. With Parse going into the lineup here tonight, I’m going to take Ponikarovsky out, and put Penner there with Stoll. It’s a little bit of a risk, but I haven’t been getting enough from the top line on that left side, on the production side of it. Parse has ability, has skill, so I’m going to take that look tonight.”

Murray was asked about the fact that Ponikarovsky scored a goal in Game 4, and if that was taken into consideration…

MURRAY: “I looked at it, sure. There’s shifts that he has played very well. He’s a big-bodied, heavy guy. He’s got some good physical play in the series so far. I’ve taken all that into consideration. I’m looking at our special teams, on the power play. If we run into a situation for a need for a skill player on the power play, then my feeling is that Penner can fit right in there and hopefully contribute on that part of the game.”

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