Johnny Gaudreau was skating with Milan Lucic and Derk Ryan.
Sean Monahan found himself on a line with Mikael Backlund and Dillon Dube.
Elias Lindholm was centering a line between Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane.
No, the Calgary Flames didn’t look the way they normally do when they skated at Tuesday’s practice at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Maybe interim head coach Geoff Ward was trying to put his own stamp on the lineup, or maybe he was just trying to see what different combinations looked like.
Speaking with the media after practice, Ward was careful not to reveal too much about what the lines that were together on Tuesday might mean.
“You guys will see a lot of different things from me,” Ward said. “I want to see things before we think about using them in games or need to use them in games, I want to have an idea of who can play with who and what potential combinations (might work).
“You’ll see a variety of different things from me, moreso from my standpoint, trying to learn about the players and where we can plug them in.”
If the changes do carry over into Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, Sean Monahan said there wouldn’t be any pushback from the players.
“I was playing with Backs and Dubes — we need a spark right now, and we need to score goals,” Monahan said. “Obviously, our line wasn’t good enough the last long while now. We need a spark, we need to get it going, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Twitter: @DannyAustin_9
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