Heading into Thursday's game, a few of the lines will be shuffled - at least for the start of the game.
Pregame skate saw Drew Stafford up on David Krejci's left wing, with David Pastrnak at right wing. Noel Acciari slid up to the right wing spot on the third line alongside Ryan Spooner and Frank Vatrano. Matt Beleskey skated at left wing on the fourth line, with Dominic Moore at center and Riley Nash on the right.
As per usual, Cassidy provided some insight into the line switches, which usually come about after the coaching staff studies game video.
"You see who complements who," said Cassidy. "And I'll take Vatrano and Spooner [as an example] because I think they need to play with a guy who gets to the net - Frank's a shooter, Spooner's a disher, they need someone going to the net. We put Jimmy Hayes on that line, and I thought, when he was in the lineup, he was getting to the net. Beleskey, he has some ability to do that."
"Stafford's more of a playmaker. Moved him up with Krejci and Pasta simply because I see tonight maybe being a little more of a different opponent than Ottawa, Toronto type of game, and he's played with both of them," Cassidy said of Stafford, who welcomed twins Mila and Maddox over the weekend.
"Now, with a couple of games under his belt, I think he'll have a little more hop in his step and his mind will be more at ease, obviously, having the twins out, they're fine, everyone's healthy. I think it's human nature to be concerned about that, and now we'll see a couple of games back playing and the feel of it, we'll get him in rhythm."
"And with the other line, it's just Noel, give him a shot there. We might go right back to Beleskey to be honest with you, but we need a guy who can get to the net for those guys, so it keeps everyone on their strong sides," said Cassidy. "I thought Noel's done a good job on the fourth line, creating traffic in front of the net. Clearly he doesn't have a resume as a goal scorer, we know that, and we're going to maybe give him an opportunity there and see how it works out for us. But most of the time, I like to work in pairs, I think we've talked about that - Bergy and March have been a pair, Krejci and Pastrnak, Spooner and Vatrano. We'll see how the pieces fit."
