John Tortorella Isn’t Afraid to Shake Things Up
I think we pretty much already knew this, but it’s never too early to be reminded of how fickle and quick and coach John Tortorella can be sometimes when it comes to lineups, starters and life in general.
His readiness to shake things up were evident after team’s embarrassing loss in Chicago. Torts, always wanting the best out of his team, announced some major line mixing before Tuesday’s collision with Carolina.
Instead of continuing with the top line of Alexander Wennberg, Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson, both the Breadman and Cam were put on the second line while Oliver Bjorkstrand was brought up with Pierre-Luc Dubois. Milano, who had been on the second line with Bjorkstrand and captain Nick Foligno previously, was put on the fourth line.
The lines didn’t stay the same at all as the game went on in Raleigh, but I wouldn’t put it past Tortorella to do more of the same mixing in Friday or Saturday’s game to find the best combination of talent using his young core.