After watching the first two Penguins games this season, it was pretty evident that the defensemen needed to stop coughing up the puck. The obvious solution for this: Riikola.
They were back at practice today, and it appears that the defensive pairing shakeup that was anticipated could be a reality tomorrow night against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Here's how the lines/pairs look:
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Simon-Brassard-Rust
Cullen-Sheahan-Sprong
Dumoulin-Letang
Johnson-Schultz
Oleksiak-Riikola
Maatta-Ruhwedel— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) October 10, 2018Olli Maatta being a potential healthy scratch in the third game of the season is interesting to say the least, but on a different note, Juuso Riikola making his NHL debut is something to keep an eye on.