2:40PM: David Quinn spoke after practice and said (NYR):
- On Kreider’s status, “we will see, I haven’t had a chance to figure out how he feels after but he is definitely getting better and better. It’s day to day and it really is day to day, we will see how he feels after practice.”
- On Kreider practicing fully, “he’s obviously very close, it’s not a long-term thing.”
- On Panarin and Strome being separate, “that is definitely on the table.”
- Why separate Strome and Panarin, “we just gotta get more offense 5 on 5. If you look at our last stretch here, over 6-7 games, we haven’t been productive offensively at 5 on 5. We are really relying on our PP. Just something we are thinking about doing and wanted to see how it looked today.”
- What are the issues 5 on 5, “if you look at our numbers, our numbers we spend almost 7-more minutes in the offensive zone than they did last night. We just aren’t hard enough around the net, not shooting enough. We have to be more opportunistic, shoot pucks quicker, have a bit more of an attitude around the net, get there consistently, things of that nature. Goal scoring can be streaky but in that regard you can get more bounces if you are going to the net and throwing pucks to the net.”
- Do you expect Mika to play tomorrow, “yes, we expect it.”
- On Howden being at center today, “that was more because McKegg and Mika weren’t here.”
- On Howden as a winger, “he took faceoffs last night because Fil has a bit of a hand issue. 11-2, so he did a heck of a job.”
- Could he take more, Yea.”
- On the goalie for tomorrow, “Igor.”
- On Georgiev’s history against Toronto, “we thought about that, but we just decided we were going to do this.”
- On figuring out which goalie plays, “it’s getting to the point where someone has to play really well and the guys who play really well will play. We’ve been sorting this out with three, but, it’s not an easy situation. It’s not an easy situation and we will make the best of it and these guys have handled it very well. I give all three of them a lot of credit, it’s not easy and they have done a good job managing it.”
- On Georgiev not playing since before the break, “that is probably the reason why he will probably play on Friday. Nothing definite yet but leaning that way.”
- On Di Giuseppe, “I saw a lot of energy, I thought he did a good job, played well. A lot of times you bring a guy up from the AHL and they are in an offensive role and play key minutes with top players and they get to the NHL and we all have a tendency to put them on the fourth line. You want to let a guy play to his strengths. I liked the other lines, from our end of it. Wasn’t really crazy about putting anyone else up there at this point, thought it was a good opportunity to see him in that situation.”
- Would you consider keeping Di Giuseppe in the mix, “I would consider doing it again, yes.”
- Do you need to have a conversation with Buchnevich after last night, “I’ll probably have a conversation with him, haven’t had a chance yet. I have a lot of conversations with him so today will be no different.”
- On Kakko getting more ice time, “we’ve talked about that as well.”
- What have you liked about Kakko lately, “I’ve liked his pace offensively, think he is doing a better job offensively. Defensively he still has to continue to improve in that area but from an offensive perspective he has been more of a threat in that area.”
- What has been working well with the PP, “I think we have a good balance, we can be predictable up top, we can be top heavy and look to create our offense from up top. One of the things we have done a better job of is creating an offensive approach down low, which, when we do get it back up top, we have more options and sucked them down a little lower and maybe create more space up top. You can’t be so dependent on the top of your PP, or the bottom, you need to have a balance to free both ends of it up.”
1:22PM: Igor Shesterkin will start against the Leafs on Wednesday. (NYR)
12:19PM: At Rangers practice on Tuesday, Adam Fox (maintenance), Greg McKegg (maintenance) and Mika Zibanejad (flu) are not skating. (NYR)
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Chris Kreider is taking part in practice. (NYR)
Kreider was a game-time decision last night but did not play against Dallas.
McKegg went to the Rangers locker room in the first period last night but returned to play four shifts in the second (3:18) and two shifts (1:06) in the third.
12:58PM: Leafs starting goalie Frederik Andersen will miss tomorrow’s game against the Rangers with a neck issue and Michael Hutchinosn will start. (Friedman)