Trotz on altering lines: 'Sometimes the love goes out of the marriage'
Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz told reporters that he just wanted to spice things up a bit on Thursday when he altered his top two lines against the New York Islanders.
In fact, Trotz got a bit creative with his answer when asked by reporters why Evgeny Kuznetsov was paired with fellow countryman Alex Ovechkin and Justin Williams while Nicklas Backstrom joined Andre Burakovsky and T.J. Oshie.
Via Monumental Network:
"Just sometimes it's a little refreshing. It's no different than - I'll use this analogy, you guys will like this - sometimes it's like a marriage. You got a line that's like a marriage. Sometimes the love goes out of the marriage a little bit. You get it separated a little bit. You know, you get a little vacation from each other.
"... You get a little bit of separation, a little vacation, and you come back and they're excited again."
Apparently, winning has made things a bit stale for Trotz and the NHL-best Capitals (42-10-4), who posted a 3-2 overtime victory over their Metropolitan Division rivals.
.@washcaps captain @ovi8 scored twice to pad his NHL lead with 37 goals, including 16 tallies in his last 16 games. pic.twitter.com/AuGFzLxNu4
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 19, 2016
As for the line changes, well, they worked out just fine. Ovechkin scored twice in an 87-second span early in the second period and Williams tallied 4:16 into the extra session to secure the team's seventh win in eight outings.
Justin Williams (@washcaps) scored the 3rd regular-season OT goal of his NHL career (also 01/16/07 at FLA w/ CAR and 11/30/02 at MTL w/ PHI)
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 19, 2016
Washington, which will keep the new line combinations for one more contest, will open a four-game homestand against the New Jersey Devils (29-22-7) on Saturday.
