Marco Rossi, whom played 12:10 in his first career playoff game on Sunday, has been dropped to the fourth line for the Wild's game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night. 

Ryan Hartman, who had a great game on Sunday, was promoted to the third line which dropped Rossi to the fourth line. 

Rossi, 23, entered the playoffs after finishing second on the team in points with 60 during the regular season. He played in all 82 games for the second straight year. 

Despite playing through injury, Rossi kept going and finished the season. He finished first in Evolving-Hockey's OFF ( which is Even-Strength Offense Goals Above Average/Replacement plus Powerplay Offense Goals Above Average/Replacement). 

What this meant is he was the Wild's most proficient offensive player. He finished second in EVD, which is even strength offense, behind Kirill Kaprizov. Rossi finished fourth in Def behind Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno. Def means even-strength defense goals above average/replacement plus shorthanded defense. 

He finished second in WAR (wins above replacement), which is a stat that the Wild heavily use, behind Foligno and second in GAR (goals above replacement). 

Rossi didn't exactly have the best Game 1. He had a game score of negative 0.46. He was on a line with Foligno and Gustav Nyquist. The Wild traded a second round pick for Nyquist at the deadline. He has provided the Wild with zero 5-on-5 goals in 23 games with the team. 

Wild head coach John Hynes indicated part of the decision to move Rossi to the fourth line was because of how well Hartman played in Game 1. The other part was to see a little more from Rossi.

"It's a combination. One, it's a little bit some matchups and some of it is how other guys played," Hynes said. "I think Brazeau and Trenin, like when you look at the Ozone time, I would say it was Ek's line and Brazeau and Trenin. Marco is a really good two-way center who has some finish to his game. So, playing with two bigger bodies, to establish Ozone, and maybe get some scoring in that area as well. 

"There needs to be just a little bit more from Marco in that. When you get to this time of the year there is another level of compete and speed. I would like to see him get a little bit better in those areas."

Trenin had eight hits and one shot in Game 1. Brazeau had four hits and zero shots in Game 1. 

Freddy Gaudreau, who remains on the second line, finished Game 1 with a game score of -1.33. That was the worst of any forward in the game, for either team.

Nyquist finished the game with a game score of -0.32. Both Nyquist and Gaudreau will remain in higher roles than Rossi for Game 2.

It is one thing for a player to be demoted to the fourth line based on his play and another thing for a guy to be demoted just because another should be promoted and two other older vets with years of experience-despite poor play, have to stay in the lineup. 

Hynes did say that he is willing to make in-game adjustments based on how guys are playing so just because Rossi is on the fourth line to start doesn't mean that's where he will finish. 

Nonetheless, the Wild's leading center point-getter (second on entire team in points behind Matt Boldy) from the regular season and the guy who finished second in WAR, will start Game 2 on the fourth line. 

"I am confident that Marco is going to help us and be a difference maker in this series," Hynes said. "We are probably going to talk about this all the time, these slight tweaks here and tweaks there. But going in, this is how it's going to be."