Scratch no ‘indictment’ of slumping Smith’s play

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was already a short leash for Brendan Smith. But another difficult performance Friday night in Detroit hardly helped.

So the veteran defenseman was made a healthy scratch for the second leg of this road back-toback, a 5-4 shootout win over the Blue Jackets on Saturday night. It was the first time this season head coach David Quinn scratched Smith after the two had talked about his slipping game before Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Red Wings in Detroit.

“Listen, he’s a really good player. Got off to a great start. He’s hit a little bit of a rough patch,” Quinn said. “We’ve got defensemen — as I’ve talked about — we feel confident with all eight. Sometimes it’s not an indictment on their play as much as the fact that we have other guys doing a good job and want to get guys in. That’s just the situation we’re in.

“Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to sit and watch, recollect yourself and get going again. Just press the restart button. I fully expect him to come back and be the player he’s capable of being.”

The 29-year-old Smith, who signed a four-year, $17.4 million deal in the summer of 2017 with an annual salary-cap hit of $4.35 million, spent last year’s final two months with AHL Hartford after clearing waivers.

Replacing Smith was leftyshot Fredrik Claesson, who had been out with a lower-body injury since getting hurt on Oct. 17 in Washington. Claesson played a steady 17:12 paired mostly with Kevin Shattenkirk.

Quinn delivered on his pregame guarantee that rookie

Lias Andersson would play more than the 6:23 of total ice time he got in Detroit. The coach moved the 20-year-old Swede to the right wing on a line with Chris Kreider and

Kevin Hayes, and Andersson finished the game with 15:22. Quinn sounded hopeful

Mats Zuccarello could re-enter the lineup for Monday night’s Garden match against the Canucks after he missed this twogame trip with a groin strain.