Tortorella looks for more from fourth line
About an hour before Monday’s game against Boston, Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella conceded his lack of trust in the fourth line, and pondered what to do.
“I’ve got to figure out some way to get some sort of identity on our fourth line and how to use them,” he said. “That’s my problem.”
Tortorella’s solution, at least short-term?
He chose to not have a fourth-line center, instead giving the young wings on that line — Tyler Motte and Markus Hannikainen — shifts with the Jackets’ other centers.
“I like those guys playing together,” Tortorella said postgame of Motte and Hannikainen. “It gives us a little bit of an identity, where they’re going to chase pucks and forecheck.”
Motte played so well that Tortorella promised him a spot in the lineup Thursday at Florida. Hannikainen played one of his better games, Tortorella said. But the coach will have to decide what to do with them when winger Cam Atkinson returns from a lower-body injury.
And then there’s Sonny Milano, who leads the team with five goals. Milano was a healthy scratch Monday for the first time after receiving just 3:17 of ice time Saturday and 6:30 the night before.
Tortorella emphasized Tuesday he wants the skilled rookie wing to show more patience and play within the team concept.
“The important thing with Sonny is sometimes he may have to go three, four, even five shifts just chipping the puck or getting it out in the neutral zone,” Tortorella said. “It does not always have to be tape-totape (pass). It doesn’t have to be a saucer. It doesn’t even have to be an offensive play.
“That’s the part of the game that a young man with that type of skill has to learn — that you can’t bring that (skill) into every shift. We know it’s available, but you also have to let the game come to you and not force it. … We’re going to continue to try to help him out until patience becomes a part of his game.”
Until then, Milano’s ice time will be limited. Motte, meanwhile, “sparked us a little bit” Monday during his 12 minutes of ice time, Tortorella said.
“He was on the puck, drew a penalty with his speed, scores a goal,” said Tortorella, who briefly also used Motte as a penalty killer. “I moved him up a line because he deserved to be with (Brandon Dubinsky) and (Boone Jenner).
“He’s going to play again. Like I told him on the ice, ‘Don’t give me a reason to take you out. I can’t take you out now the way you’ve played.’ I said, ‘Don’t give me a reason because there’s other people wanting your spot. You came in and took someone’s spot. That guy may want it back and there’s other people waiting to get in.’”
The forward lineup will largely hinge on Atkinson’s health. Tortorella said there was no update on Atkinson, who didn’t practice Tuesday, and his status remains “day-to-day.”