Mike Sullivan has once again switched the New York Rangers’ offensive line combinations.
Throughout the season, Sullivan has shaken up his lines multiple times, and there are two reasons for that.
First off, Vincent Trocheck’s injury changed the complexity of the lineup, creating an imbalance, which forced Sullivan to be more creative in order to find more balance.
The Rangers’ offensive struggles also resulted in multiple line changes, with the hopes of creating some sort of spark and erasing their scoring woes.
During Thursday night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, Sullivan decided to shuffle his lines down by two goals.
He put J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad back together for the first time since Trocheck’s injury, as they played alongside Artemi Panarin. The hope from Sullivan was to stack up the team’s most explosive offensive players together.
With Noah Laba having an exceptional game, Sullivan trusted him to center the second line with Will Cuylle and Alexis Lafrenière.
Rangers Gain Much-Needed Confidence In Comeback Win Over Oilers
The New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a> took a step in the right direction in their gutsy, come-from-behind 4-3 overtime victory against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
Juuso Parssinen was moved back to center to play alongside Conor Sheary and Taylor Raddysh, while the line of Adam Edström, Sam Carrick, and Jonny Brodzinski remained the same.
Sullivan’s big gamble paid off. The Rangers scored two unanswered goals in the third period and won the game in overtime, capping off a big-time comeback.
Sullivan kept these newly established lines at practice on Friday, indicating these are the offensive combinations you will likely see on Saturday night when the Rangers face off against the Seattle Kraken.