At practice this morning, the Rangers used the following lines (Cyrgalis):
- Filip Chytil, Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich
- Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello
- Jimmy Vesey, Brett Howden, Vlad Namestnikov
- Lias Andersson, Boo Nieves, Ryan Strome
Marc Staal is paired with Neal Pionk, Brady Skjei is paired with Adam McQuaid and Freddy Claesson is paired with Brendan Smith. (Cyrgalis)
Tony DeAngelo was skating as an extra and paired with injured defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. (Cyrgalis)
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David Quinn spoke after practice and said (NYR):
- On the lineup, “same lineup.”
- On Shattenkirk skating today, “he’s close, very close. Day to day to the point where he could be ready any day now. Wasn’t limited.”
- On Fast, “he’s close. They are all close. We will see, hopefully for Nashville, they are that close.”
- On the Swedish guys, “it’s human nature that when you are from one country and living in another country that you create a different bond. There is good camaraderie with the Swedes, Canadians, Americans, Czechs and whoever else we have. It’s a good group that way. It’s been a great group to coach and a good feel within the walls of the locker room.”
- On Kreider, “I think Kreids’ has had a really good season. Most guys, when you play 30+ games, there will be some peaks and valleys but his play of late has been really good. You have seen his burst of speed more consistently. The goals are nice but over the last 4-5 games he has made some plays, set guys up from a playmaking standpoint and when he plays with that pace he takes his brain out of it and plays with hockey instinct and he has great instincts. I think he has had a really good year.”
- On McQuaid and Skjei, “I think Brady has played well of late. Adam is finding his game with each one that goes by. Those guys have done a good job. Over the last three games, after the debacle we had against Vegas, we have been much better defensively. You play Toronto and their firepower and from our standpoint we gave up seven scoring chances against Anaheim, 16 against Toronto and 14 against Philly. If you are in that 15 area you have a great chance to win hockey games. We have been much better structurally and not giving up those crazy chances. People haven’t had flurries against us, that has been good to see. We didn’t play great against Philly but there is that structure you want to have so that when you don’t have a great night you have a chance to survive and win because you are committed to that defensive structure no matter what system you have or structure you are in.”
- On scoring chances for, “we were 17 against Philly, 14 against Toronto and 17 against Anaheim, something like that.”
- “Our PP needs to get better, that is the bottom line. It has to not only be productive but a bad PP can demoralize you as well. For two minutes and you get nothing out of it, it’s a little demoralizing and we need to get back to playing with pace and life and giving us goals.”