Forward thinking for Golden Knights, Gerard Gallant

Gerard Gallant almost certainly never played “Ice Hockey” on the old Nintendo Entertainment System during his time with the Red Wings almost 30 years ago.

But lately, the Golden Knights coach has been wired in with his own version of the video game.

Gallant continues to mix and match players on his forward lines, searching for the proper balance between scoring and grit before the regular season starts Oct. 6 at Dallas.

“Over time, we’ll know our players a lot better, and that’s the key with it,” Gallant said. “Right now, we’re sort of saying, ‘Hopefully this will work with this guy, and hopefully this will work with this guy’ and we’ll see. It’s not a big thing, but this time next year, we’ll be a little farther ahead of the game.”

The “Ice Hockey” video game, which debuted on NES in 1988, made users select from three players — the Skinny Guy, the Medium Guy and the Fat Guy — each with varying skill sets.

The trick was to design a four-player combination that could successfully generate offense and dish out a few bone-jarring hits, too, when necessary.

It’s not much different for Gallant.

“I think you need all type of players out there,” Knights forward Oscar Lindberg said. “I don’t think you can have only playmakers. You need a finisher and guys who go to the net and do all that kind of stuff, too. They need to complement each other.”

Gallant’s ideal lineup starts with a skilled, high-scoring first line and a balanced No. 2 line featuring reliable, two-way players.

The third line often is tasked with shutting down the opposing team’s No. 1 line, while a fourth line usually includes grinders and penalty killers willing to finish checks and muck it up in the corners.

The Knights’ top line in training camp is balanced, if not overly physical, with a playmaking center (Vadim Shipachyov) alongside a pure goal scorer (Jonathan Marchessault) and a hard-working wing (Reilly Smith).

When James Neal returns from a broken hand, he is projected to slot into Smith’s spot.

“There’s all different kinds of lines,” Gallant said. “You might have a line that’s all skill. You might have a line that’s got two heavy — a (Wayne) Simmonds-type of player who goes hard to the net and opens up the ice for his other teammates. So, it depends what you’ve got, what you’re trying to do.

“But looking at our type of players, we don’t have a whole lot of physical, big strong guys, but we have some skill and talent.”

Gallant said growing up in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, his favorite line to watch was the New York Islanders’ famed “Trio Grande” of Bryan Trottier centering Mike Bossy and Clark Gillies.

In Detroit, Gallant skated alongside Hall of Famer center Steve Yzerman and Paul MacLean during the 1988-89 season, and the line accounted for nearly 45 percent of their team’s goals and 52 percent of its points.

Gallant was the one digging pucks out of the corners and battling in front of the net to create space for Yzerman.

“My job was simple: Give him the puck,” Gallant said. “My skill level wasn’t near his, but we worked well together because we were teammates, we knew each other, the chemistry was there, he knew what I was going to do.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.