Sunday, February 24, 2013
Gomez gets chance with Clowe out
By Tom Carpenter
Ryane Clowe was not available for Saturday's game as the NHL looks into Friday's incident when Clowe fought Andrew Shaw in the waning minutes of the game. He will have a hearing Monday to determine whether he will face a 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to fight, according to David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News.
In the meantime, coach Todd McLellan mixed up his lines in an attempt to generate some more scoring.
"[H]e’s decided to both move Scott Gomez into a top six role AND stir things up even more by placing him at center between Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski. When was the last time that line started a game? Never," Pollak wrote.
"That leaves a top line of Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Marty Havlat — again, not the usual setup."
Not only has Gomez failed to net a goal this season, he was a healthy scratch three of the previous four games. Perhaps he will get off the schneid if Clowe ends up suspended for a lengthy stretch, though he failed to get a puck through on five shots during Saturday's loss to the Dallas Stars.
