Defensive foot forward

With a pair of four-point games coming up this weekend, it's safe to say that Randy Murphy will be fielding the strongest defensive unit he has had all season. Not only do the Scorpions get some much-needed spark in Lyon Messier, but they also get Michael Beynon back off the 14-day IR. It'll once again be interesting to see how Murphy pairs guys up on defense, but I certainly don't see any potentially "weak" pairing. Ben Chaisson seems to have settled down a bit in his past two games and Tyler Fuller has looked great since coming off a short stint on the IR. And get this little bit -- Aaron Schneekloth got a good deal of attention for his 17-game streak with an even rating or better. Now, that's on a 15-3 Colorado team. Adam Blanchette is currently on a 16-game streak of the same variety, but the Scorpions have won just 4 games in that span. The results can make that stat pretty easy to overlook, but there's no denying that Blanchette deserves some credit for being one of the few bright spots on an otherwise shoddy defense core.

Now, with seven defensemen active and Sam Bowles having been waived, my best guess is that Andrew Smale might share time at forward with Mike MacDonald alongside Jamie Herrington and John Mazzei. That gives Murphy a nice option of size versus speed in that fourth forward slot, and with the way Jamie Herrington has been feeding the puck so far this season, that's a checking line that's liable to put up some points too.