Hoping For Offensive Spark Rangers Reuinite Christensen With Gaborik, Prospal

Looking for a spark to the offense, coach John Tortorella made changes to the lines he used last night in preparation for Game 2 tomorrow night against the Capitals.  Nothing is official at this point, but the general practice for Tortorella is the lines he uses in practice are the ones he uses in games the following day.

Tinkering with the lines is certainly nothing new for Tortorella and certainly should not surprise after the team failed to generate any sense of consistent offense in Game 1. The biggest move was moving Erik Christensen from the fourth line, playing 10:54, to the top line with Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal.  Reuniting Prospal, Christensen and Gaborik is a move that Tortorella has played before this season in hopes of rekindling the magic the trio showed at times last season.  

Christensen certainly has the talent and skill to be effective in that role, but his consistency in exercising those abilities has always been the issue with him.  Right now the Rangers would try just about anything to get Marian Gaborik scoring goals, which he has not done in 10 games now.  

Artem Anisimov was moved down to the fourth line with either Mats Zuccarello/Sean Avery and Chris Drury.  Anisimov might start the game on the fourth line, but he will have opportunities early in the game to show he can be a factor during the game and potentially move up the lineup.  The other two lines were Wolski, Boyle, Prust and Stepan between Dubinsky and Fedotenko.