David Quinn had said a few days ago that with the way his defensemen were playing, it was going to get to the point where he was going to have leave a player out of the lineup who didn’t deserve to be left out. With the coach re-inserting Brady Skjei to the lineup Wednesday after sitting him out the two previous games, that deserving player who had to sit out was Brendan Smith.
“It’s really the first time this year a guy’s sitting who probably shouldn’t be,’’ Quinn said. “Every time we’ve sat a guy, up until this point, it’s been an easy conversation, because their play warranted it.