After spending most of camp skating on a line with C Scott Gomez, for the second day in a row Jaromir Jagr practiced with Chris Drury and Martin Straka in what appeared to be a preview of the lineup for tomorrow's tilt against the Islanders at the Garden.
Gomez was between Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery, although Avery's nagging right groin/leg tweak makes him a game-day decision tomorrow, said coach Tom Renney.
"He doesn't need to (play), and maybe he shouldn't," said Renney.
Renney planned to solicit feedback from all six players about the pluses and minuses of the line combinations later today. "Instincts and just how they read off each other," he said.
But Renney noted that there was already "some momentum" with Gomez on the first line and Drury on the second. "We invested some time in that already," including with off-ice video work.
The three other lines were:
Nigel Dawes-Artem Anisimov-Colton Orr
Marcel Hossa-Brandon Dubinsky-Ryan Hollweg
Petr Prucha-Blair Betts-Ryan Callahan
It seems logical that the last line above won't dress for the Islanders, although Callahan or Prucha could slide in if Avery is a scratch.
Comments (5)
Personally I am all for not dressing Hollweg, Orr and Avery. Lets go with the skill and drag them up and down the garden ice. Beat them hard on the score board.
OK, back to reality it's just preseason. Get some lines set and practice.
I would like that too, but we have to have some kind of deterrents for when, not if, the Islanders start their crap again.
Gotta dress the tough guys.
I guess. If the Islanders and the Phillies want to bring it back to that era of hockey they need new coaches that have watched the NHL for the last few years.
See that hit from the Downey kid on McAmmond from the Sens the other night?
That kid deserves a real welcome to the NHL @ss whooping!
I did, that hit was awful.
Sometimes the lack of respect these guys have for one another is galling.
You nailed it couldn't agree more. The game is exciting and fast paced. The Islanders rivalry is great. The hard hits and good drop of the gloves make the game exciting. But, the stuff like that really needs to be dealt with.