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Tortorella fiddling with lines at workout
Marc Staal (TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT)
GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Although coach John Tortorella shuffled three lines in practice on Friday, the No. 1 line stayed intact.
With home ice providing the last line change, not only will Tortorella be able to match defencemen Dan Girardi or Marc Staal against Alex Ovechkin as much as possible, he will be able to deploy his top line of Carl Hagelin, Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik against different Capitals defence pairings. Gaborik (3-3-6) and Richards (3-2-5) are the team's leading scorers in the series. Derek Stepan, who will centre the second line, has four assists.
"For a player, I don't think it (the last change) matters as much as it does for coaches," Staal said. "You hear your name called and we jump on the ice. When (Ovechkin is) on the ice we're aware of when he gets out there and where he is."
Stepan will be flanked by Chris Kreider and Ryan Callahan. The third line was Artem Anisimov on the left, Brian Boyle at center and Brandon Prust on the right. Ruslan Fedotenko was dropped down to join John Mitchell and Mike Rupp on the fourth line.
Richards said the team's mood was "pretty much identical" to before Game 7 against the Senators. "It's win or go home. We went through it a couple weeks ago so we know the feeling it's going to be during the day (Saturday)."
-- Newsday
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 12, 2012 C2
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