6:01PM: Kris Knoblauch spoke after practice today and said (NYR):
- On what is going on, “I’ve had a little bit of time to reflect on what happened and it feels more like a regular coaching day where we just finish the game, review it on video, talk with the assistants, mostly Gord Murphy and myself, but we’ve also talked to Quinny a little bit, mostly just preparing for what kind of practice this should be, looking at the scheduled, who we are playing, what do we want to do and then move forward getting prepared to play Washington. We’ll contact again, probably before I get on the flight to Washington and discuss a game plan and go over video of what our game plan will be.”
- Is Igor possible to play on this trip, “Shesty is a possibility this weekend, Georgie will be our starting goalie for the first game and then we will go from there.”
- On a different feel at practice, “The guys had fun today at practice, there is no doubt about that, but it had nothing to do with the coaching staff or any drill or message, they were having fun because they just enjoyed a hockey game, where it’s been a long time since they experienced something like that. They were having fun. Hopefully they had their fine and they can dial it and get prepared to play Washington who is one of the best teams in the NHL right now with how they’ve been playing.”
- On his interactions with the players, “The veterans, and the young players, have been outstanding, they’ve been very accommodating. Yesterday, just with routines, and meeting times and prep for the PP and I’m not sure the ebbs and flows of the pre-game rituals and they helped us out with that. As a new coaching staff, we don’t want to disrupt what they are doing and for this to go as smoothly as possible and share the message that the coaching staff wants to share and not turn things upside down. We’ve been able to have some conversations with them before, they’ve been very helpful and then on the ice at practice, we talked about the game a little bit. I think the leadership with the organization is outstanding.”
- What is it like to run practice when you win by 9, “there are practices that are technical practices and practices that are just for the players to get on the ice and feel comfortable and confident so that for their next game they’ve got the confidence they can play well. Today was one of those confidence practices, we did some passing, did some skating, the players can shoot, but really, system-wise, there was very little.”
- On potentially preparing to coach this weekend and being behind an NHL bench again, “First of all, we didn’t have much time, I did pack a bag, but after our game last night and looking at how much I packed, it wasn’t enough. Being behind an NHL bench, it’s very exciting and even though there were about 2,000 fans, it didn’t feel like that, they were very vocal and into the game. Just being behind a bench, call lines and being part of the victory is memorable. Of all my coaching memories, this will be one of the most significant ones.”
1:18PM: Georgiev will start against Washington tomorrow. (NYR)
Ad
1:14PM: The Rangers have announced that Kris Knoblauch, Gord Murphy and Chris Drury will remain behind the bench for the games against Washington this weekend. (Rosen)
Igor Shesterkin was on the ice at practice today and Chris Kreider had a maintenance day.
Hartford’s coaches for today’s game against Bridgeport are Pat Boller, Vincent LoVerde, Jeff Malcolm and Brock Ballard. (HWP)
Boller is in his 14th season with the Wolf Pack and ninth as the assistant GM. He had previously been an assistant with Hartford from 2007-08 to 2016-17.
Jeff Malcolm has been the organization’s Goaltending Consultant for the past three seasons. According to the Rangers Media Guide, “In his role, he assists in the on-ice and off-ice development of goaltenders throughout the Rangers organization, including goaltenders with the team’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, and works with the Rangers front office in evaluating goaltenders at both the amateur level and professional level.” He had been part of the Rangers organization as a player from 2013-14 to 2016-17.
LoVerde is currently the Captain of the Wolf Pack and Ballard is a skills coach.