Peter Laviolette announces major lineup changes ahead of the Islanders game tomorrow
The New York Rangers will sport a new look tomorrow against their rival New York Islanders.
The Islanders will be short Anthony Duclair, Matthew Barzal, Mike Reilly, Alexander Romanov, and Adam Pelech.
They will be short-handed with two top-six forwards out of the lineup, along with mainstays on the blue line, like Pelech and Romanov.
While we can't be too certain of how hungry the Islanders will be for a win tomorrow, they're 4-5-2 and defeated the Buffalo Sabres. In what could be a dumpsterfire match of New York.
Line up Changes
Peter Laviolette has decided to change up his forward lines and defensive core ahead of the match tomorrow.
In what looks to be an effort to spark Mika Zibanejad, a spark as he has Alexis Lafrenière and Artemi Panarin flanking him. This is instead of his usual linemates, Reilly Smith, and Chris Kreider who have been dismal in production lately.
Will Cuylle received a promotion to LW2, alongside Vinnie Troecheck and Reilly Smith as the 2nd line, and adds some more grit as well. Cuylle has been on fire lately scoring 8 points( 3 G, 5 A) in 10 games.
Jimmy Vesey slots back in on RW4, and will be a huge factor in driving offense in the bottom six Chris Kreider gets demoted to the 3rd line, which has been a force to deal with on the ice. Hopefully, Kreider can benefit from sharing the same line as Filip Chytil whose been one of the Rangers' best players this season.
The defense pairs, look like they have returned to the status quo, as Ryan Lindgren has earned his spot back on the top line.
While K'Andre Miller is paired with Jacob Trouba, in a pair we've seen before and the majority of last season.
Jones will slot in tomorrow, as Victory Mancini will sit tomorrow instead. The two will share the position until one of them locks down the job for sure.
Laviolettle On the Changes
Laviolette explains why the team needed to change the lines:
His primary motivation for making what could be construed as unexpected changes is to spark offense. It's obvious what players are regular contributors to the team's success, and who needs to step up and Laviolette is facing the issue head-on.
