Wood said he was looking forward to the opportunity for some big offensive minutes at important times in the game.
"It's a chance for me to step up my game, too," he said. "To prove what I can do playing with those two guys. It's the first time in my career where I've ever played first line left wing just because Taylor Hall's been here since I've been here."
Wood added that he feels he can add an element to the line not unlike power forwards like Chris Kreider or, in the past, Milan Lucic with the Bruins.
"Just getting in on the forecheck hard, trying to create turnovers and have fun out there."
As for Jack, he'll slide into the wing to play with Travis Zajac and Joey Anderson. Nasreddine is looking to recreate the magic that was the line of Nikita Gusev, Zajac and Blake Coleman.
"The mindset behind it was trying to recreate what worked with Gusev. We had Gusev going up with Zajac and Coleman. I understand Joey's not Coleman yet but similar type player and Zajac is extremely reliable. We're hoping it works as well for Gusev."
SCHNEIDER STARTS
In goal, Cory Schneider gets the start with tonight being the first of back-to-back games. Nasreddine in discussion with goaltending coach Roland Melanson felt that Blackwood playing Saturday against the Rangers would be a good experience for him given that the Rangers have a lot on the line now only two points out of a playoff spot.
"Tomorrow being the New York Rangers, for Blackie's development, going against the Rangers will be good for his growth. It's an important game for the Rangers and we always want to beat the Rangers. It'll be good for Blackie at MSG."
As for Schneider, he's played very well in the past few weeks since being recalled and the coach looks forward to that continuing.
"As a group, we talked a lot about resiliency the last couple of months. That's what comes to mind. You talk about adversity, he's had plenty of it. If you talk about how he's played the last couple of starts."
