Fourth-line praise

Terry Murray had some solid praise today for fourth-liners Raitis Ivanans, Brad Richardson and Peter Harrold. Their ice time dropped off in the tight third period — Ivanans had one third-period shift, Richardson and Harrold had three each — but Murray said he was impressed. Harrold tied for the team high with four shots on goal and all three players had even ratings.

MURRAY: “I’m starting to really like what I’m seeing there with those guys. They gave us really good minutes. They were very solid in their game, both ways. And we need the fourth line to be going. You need to be able to eat up minutes when you’re playing this many games on the road. They have to be able to contribute in all those situations that they were in last night. I was able to put Raitis up with (Handzus) and Fro, and (Smyth) came down with (Richardson’s) line, and I really thought they did a pretty good job.

“I like the effort, I like the speed that they bring and I’m liking the type of game that Richie, in particular, is starting to show as a center iceman. His responsibility as the low man, breaking the puck out, and his low coverage, was as good as I’ve ever seen it in the game last night. He was very heavy on his stick and had a real attitude about playing the right way to get pucks broke out and to recover pucks.”