Lines mixed to improve checking
DALLAS — It didn’t take long to notice changes to the Blue Jackets’ forward lines Monday morning at American Airlines Center.
Brandon Dubinsky skated at left wing on a line with center Alexander Wennberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand, while Anthony Duclair was bumped to the fourth line with Markus Hannikainen and center Riley Nash.
Was it a new way to get Dubinsky, a veteran center, more ice time against the Dallas Stars on Monday night?
“No, (it’s) because the other line can’t check,” Tortorella said flatly, referring to the previous iteration of Wennberg’s line. “I think we’ve found a couple of lines, with (PierreLuc Dubois’) line and (Boone Jenner’s) line, but we’ve shuffled the other six to see what we come up with.”
Wennberg’s previous line, with Bjorkstrand on the left wing and Duclair on the right, had drawn Tortorella’s attention for a few games. He scratched Bjorkstrand in the Blue Jackets’ 4-1 win against the Stars a week ago in Columbus, then held Duclair’s ice time to under 10 minutes each in weekend games against the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers.
That included sitting Duclair for all but one shift in the third period of the Jackets’ 5-4 shootout loss to the Rangers on Saturday.
“I go through it depending on my play,” Duclair said following Monday’s skate. “If I’m playing well, I’m going to get the opportunity (to play more). If I’m not, well, I’m not. So, it’s pretty simple. It’s up to me. I’m my worst critic. I’m definitely not happy with my performance last game, so I’m just going to go down and play with Nasher and Hanni and just work as hard as I can.”
Tortorella’s biggest concern about Duclair, Bjorkstrand and Wennberg is checking — mostly Duclair, though. They were giving up too many scoring chances off odd-man rushes, which led to goals.
“Wenny can check, Bjorky can check … we’re trying to teach Duke how to check,” Tortorella said of Duclair, who entered the game against the Stars as one of four players tied for the team lead in goals with seven. “It shouldn’t be full of holes, the way it’s been. It’s just been a real inconsistent line. We’ve tried to stay with it. So, we have to move away from it.”
Playing Dubinsky at the wing isn’t the plan that Tortorella would like to follow, but putting him on the left side of Wennberg’s line could theoretically help that line be more productive. Wennberg has struggled at the face-off dot, winning just 43.6 percent of his draws prior to the game Monday, while Dubinsky has excelled at 64.3 percent.
“He’ll still do some work as a center-iceman,” Tortorella said. “He’ll take a lot of the faceoffs … and I’m not sure how long it’ll last, because they had some good shifts in the third period, when I changed some things around with him, Wenny and Bjorky. We’ll see how it starts and see where it goes.”