Hunter vs. Prey?
Mike Babcock's calling Niklas Kronwall's shots for him now, apparently. In answering questions today about his defensive pairing juggling -- it was Lidstrom-Stuart and Kronwall-Rafalski today in practice -- he explained his reasoning for the switch.
"We've got two real physical guys on the back end that hunt down players and we like players that we're playing against to be a little bit nervous," Babcock said.
Truth is, he might feel he needs a more physical antidote (Stuart) to Ribiero's top line with Morrow throwing big hits on the left wing. Lidstrom's going to be out there all night against those guys, one would imagine, so the switch -- if it does happen -- makes sense.
But Babcock also was busy talking up Kronwall, whose open-ice hits have been big in the playoffs thus far. "The dimension that makes him different than Raffi and Nick is he's out there hunting you down. He's looking for you. He's going to get somebody in this series, I guarantee it."
He went on to suggest the Stars' Joel Lundqvist will be a target, since it was Lundqvist whose hit late last season knocked Kronwall out for the playoffs with a fractured sacrum.
