Monday, March 24, 2008

Gomez Injury Brings Line Changes

Sam Weinman at The Rangers Report writes...

"...Gomez’s absence will mean a return to the lineup for Petr Prucha, who has been out for the last 16 games. The left wing will take Marty Straka’s place with Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan, while Straka is reunited with Jaromir Jagr and Brandon Dubinsky. This also means Sean Avery will move to center between Brendan Shanahan and Nigel Dawes...

...Another player eligible to return is Paul Mara, who Tom Renney said was now fit enough to play but likely won’t. As of last week it sounded like Mara would step in for Christian Backman as soon as he was ready. But Backman may have bought himself at least a little more time with his three-assist effort on Friday."

...with the way the first line has been playing I'm not so excited to see them split up. I'd much rather see Straka center the second line, leaving the first line intact.

...I have to agree with Weinman that Backman probably bought himself a couple of more games with his third period play on Friday. If Backman continues his improved play, I'm not sure where Mara fits in.

No comments: