6:35PM: David Quinn met with the media prior to the game and said (NYR):

• On Strome, “he will play with Howden and Vesey to start. He’s put up some points, guy that kills penalties. He’s still young, that is something that can happen in this league, guys get in the league young and they lose sight of his age. Certainly a lot of hockey ahead of him and we feel his best hockey is ahead of him and it’s our job to get it out of him and he will have every opportunity here to do that.”
• On Skjei, “he looks indecisive in all areas and I think he is fighting it a bit mentally. It’s good for a guy to get a deep breath and collect himself and we have had conversations so he understands where we are at and when he is back in we expect him to be the player we know he is capable of being.”
• On Smith, “just looking for what we demand of everyone which is effort which is always good with Smitty. His puck management, defending, all the things he needs to do to be a player that helps us succeed and I thought he did a good job of that in the practices. He got off to a great start, his play slipped a little bit over the past two weeks but sometimes it’s not as much an indictment on their play as opposed to that we have some depth on our D corp and can get guys in here.”
• On Freddy Claesson, “he plays with a lot of passion, his personality shows in how he plays. If you talk to him in the locker room, he’s got a loud personality, fun loving personality and he’s never had a bad day in his life and that is infectious. He plays with conviction and if you are going to make a mistake it better be of conviction and he does that. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, has made good decisions with the puck, has been physical and he’s been really good for us.”

5:28PM: David Quinn announced that Brendan Smith will return to the Rangers lineup tonight and that Brady Skjei will be scratched. (Stephenson)

Mats Zuccarello will also miss the game with the groin injury that caused him to miss the three games prior to the Islanders game. (Stephenson)

Ryan Strome will skate with Brett Howden and Jimmy Vesey. (Stephenson)