The New York Rangers have had their struggles early on this season, whether it was their inability to win their first seven games at Madison Square Garden, or the lack of scoring. Their luck has since changed, as they picked up their first home win on Monday against the Nashville Predators. Next up on the schedule was a road matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Rangers picked up an impressive win on Wednesday, defeating the Lightning 7-3. Four of the Rangers' goals arrived on their first five shots on goal of the game. Late in the game, fans might have noticed that top prospect Gabe Perreault, get moved off of the top line. Instead of lining up alongside Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller, Will Cuylle did instead.
After the game, Sullivan was asked about his decision to demote Perreault from the top line. For fans worrying if Sullivan had already hit the pause button on Perreault being on the top line from here on out, that's not the case. Sullivan says that it was a matchup-based decision.
Mike Sullivan says Gabe Perreault's demotion was matchup-based decision
"[Lightning coach Jon Cooper] wanted that match with Kucherov, Guentzel and Brayden Point. We just felt like that's a tall task for a young kid [Gabe Perreault] that hasn't played a whole lot in the league. If that was going to be the match, we thought it made more sense to have a guy like Will play with JT and Mika in that circumstance," said Sullivan, h/t Mollie Walker of the New York Post. "Some of it was just based on the feel of the game, but some of it was just from a matchup strategy standpoint."
As Sullivan said, Lightning head coach was deploying a lineup of Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel, and Bradyen Point in the game, so instead of having a rookie lay on that line, he'd rather have a veteran player like Cuylle in that situation.
The Rangers, desperate for some kind of spark, promoted Perreault from the AHL to make his season debut. Sullivan had big plans for Perreault, as he placed him on the top line alongside Zibanejad and Miller, as he stressed the importance of giving the young prospect meaningful playing time. Against the Predators, Perreault recorded an assist in the 6-3 victory.
Facing the Lightning, Perreault didn't record a point. Cuylle, meanwhile, accounted for two goals in the 7-3 win.
Perreault is only two games into his season, so there is still plenty of room for him to grow and develop into a reliable player. We'll see where Perreault lines up in the team's next game on Saturday against the Colubmus Blue Jackets. But based on Sullivan's comments, Perreault moving off the top line against the Lightning doesn't sound permanent.