Gerard Gallant likes results after altering Golden Knights’ top line
Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant has done a lot of mixing and matching of his forward lines because of injuries this season.
On Thursday, he did it just for a spark, and it appears to have worked.
Gallant broke up a top line that has been productive since the start of last season by dropping Reilly Smith to the second line and moving Alex Tuch to the first in the second period.
The Knights rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders at T-Mobile Arena.
“Before the game, I didn’t think about it at all,” Gallant said after Friday’s practice at City National Arena. “The way the game was going, I just thought, ‘Let’s change it up.’ It wasn’t a huge change. It was a right winger for a right winger. You get the feel of the game, and sometimes you want to change up your lines when things aren’t going real well and maybe just not happy with what you’re seeing.”
Gallant was pleased enough with what he saw that he indicated the Knights will start Saturday’s 1 p.m. game against the Montreal Canadiens at T-Mobile Arena with the lines the same way they were to end Thursday’s game.
That means Tuch will slot in on the top line with William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault.
“He’s a gifted player,” Marchessault said of Tuch. “He’s big, he’s super fast. He has a good shot. It’s definitely something we can take advantage of. He’s probably been our most consistent player this year so far. It’s fun to play with a guy like that.”
Gallant’s preference is to set up his best four lines and stick with them, but it’s not realistic with injuries and player movement. Occasionally, the situation calls for a change, and Gallant thought Thursday called for it after the Knights fell behind 2-0 after the first period.
The fact that he doesn’t do it often made the move that much more effective.
“You have coaches that change lines every game,” veteran center Paul Stastny said. “That’s miserable when you change lines like that. I think (Gallant) does it more as a spark. Whether he sticks with it or he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter. I think you’ve still got two good lines.”
Stastny anchors a second line that for now includes Smith and Brandon Pirri, who played together with the Florida Panthers and were on the same youth team in Toronto.
“It’s not like it’s a demotion or anything,” Smith said. “Any line you play on for this team, it’s pretty special. It brought us a lot of momentum and energy to our game.”
Stastny agreed.
“When you make a move like that,” he said, “it gives energy to that top line with (Tuch), and for us I thought our line was playing pretty good anyway, so me and Pirri just kept playing the same way and (Smith) jumped right in and made us even better.”
Tuch’s transition was made easier because he has played with Karlsson and Marchessault on the power play. But Tuch is a different player than Smith, so each line will have to adjust if the players stay together beyond Saturday.
“Tuch is so powerful, so you want to give him the puck as close as you can,” Stastny said. “With Smith, he does a lot of crisscrossing. He brings guys in and tries to set pick-and-rolls. Stuff that you don’t see, that we see. With him, you get more possession. With Tuch, you get that quick strike attack whenever you get into the zone.”
Gallant said Friday that second-line stalwart Max Pacioretty’s absence with a lower-body injury will be “not long” after he was placed on injured reserve this week. It remains to be seen where he will fit in with the revamped lineup, which will be tested against Pacioretty’s former team Saturday.
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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.
Three storylines
1 Can a spark become a fire? Gerard Gallant sparked a rally Thursday by switching his top two forward lines, and he plans to stick with the newly configured lines at least to start Saturday’s game. He should find out quickly whether the new lineup will ignite the offense.
2 Defend the Fortress. The schedule sets up nicely for the Knights to start building up points, as Thursday’s game against the Islanders kicked off a stretch of 11 of the next 16 games at home after they were on the road for 22 of the first 36.
3 Maxed out. Former Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty is on injured reserve and will miss the Knights’ only home game against his ex-teammates. There is no timetable for his return, but Knights owner Bill Foley told the Review-Journal on Friday that he expects Pacioretty to be out “not long.”
Adam Hill Review-Journal
