Jokinen Bumped from Top Line

Steve Zipay at Blue Notes reports that John Tortorella decided to stay with the switch he made at the end of the Kings game and keep Erik Christensen centering Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal.

Meaning Olli Jokinen is now centering a line with Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan. Zipay also adds that Enver Lisin will be back in the line-up on a line with Sean Avery and Artem Anisimov, while the fourth line is Brendan Prust-Chris Drury-Brian Boyle.

Aaron Voros and Donald Brashear are the healthy scratches.

...glad to see Christensen back with Gaborik. They definitely have some chemistry together. I think getting Jokinen away from Gaborik might be a positive as well, as he never worked well with Iginla and maybe needs to be the top dog on the line like he was in Florida.

...btw, check out the sign ripping Avery in the picture above. Classic.

While Andrew Gross at Ranger Rants has quotes from the newest Rangers on playing their first game tonight at the Garden as a Ranger...

“I’m pretty excited, we need the two points,” Jokinen said. “We want to move forward. It’s a huge game. It’s part of the business. We’ve got to be mentally ready. There are five games before the Olympic break, we need points. We can’t think about needing 10-15 games to get used to it. Every game is like a playoff game. This is the most famous building in the world, great fans. I’ve just got to play hard."

“It’s good to get to the city and get settled and unpacked and get a skate in with the guys,” said Prust, whose easy-going personality fits in well in the dressing room. “Day by day, it feels more like home.”