6:39 PM: Gerard Gallant met with the media and said some of (NYR):
- Could the game tomorrow be postponed, “I never really heard, to be honest with you. I know the NHL talks with the teams every day, especially when a game is canceled last night, but as of right now we think we are playing, we have a good feeling we are going to play, but I don’t know what is going to happen.”
- Was there anything specific in practice you wanted to work on, “our backcheck, making sure we aren’t giving up too many rushes, that was a big thing we talked about last night, the odd-man rushes really hurt us in the game and make sure we tighten up.”
- Is the preference to have Jones and Lundkvist play with veteran guys, “that is what we’d like, obviously. We want to develop people, but the number one goal is to win hockey games and that is what we are all about. We got our top-four that is pretty standard every night and other guys are in and out of the lineup. We are trying to win games, that is the bottom line.”
- On Tinordi, “he’s probably going to go in tomorrow. I love Tinordi, I’ve had him before, good character guy, works hard. He had a tough start, yes he did, but he never really got any momentum either. He’s played one game and out, two games and out. If he goes in tomorrow then I’ve got all the confidence in the world in him. He’s a big, strong guy, he played really well in Boston last season when he played some games. He’s had a lot of different things happen, injuries, Covid and then he goes down to the minors and plays for two weeks and plays really well down there and he comes up.”
- On Chytil in the middle, “The look of our team right now down the middle, we have 1 and 2, there is no doubt and I’d love Fil to be playing better and getting more points and playing third-line center. It hasn’t worked out as perfect, we tried him on the wing a little bit here and there. In a perfect world, if Fil is doing what he is capable of doing and playing real good hockey as a third-line center, that is what I’d love and I know he’d like to be that guy, or maybe he wants to be a second-line center, but it’s not in the cards right now. He’s a young player, has to get better, wants more goals, more points and that is what we want also and it just hasn’t happened now. I talked to him today a little bit about being more abrasive around the net and that is where you get those points. He’s a good kid, he wants better for himself and we want better for him, it’s just not happening now.”
- Would you consider Lafreniere on the right in the top-six, “think about it every second day. (laugh)”
- Is it possible to do that when Panarin comes back, “that is a possibility, yea.”
- Is the plan for Georgiev to play every game until Shesterkin is back, “oh, that is too far to go. Kinkaid has played really well, he’s here, we’re confident in him too. We’ll make a decision sometime today on tomorrow, but I wouldn’t go say that Georgie is going to play the next four games, that is way too far ahead.”
5:43 PM: The Rangers have sent Zac Jones back to the Taxi Squad, called up Gettinger and Brodzinski from the Taxi Squad, and put Dryden Hunt on IR. (NYR)
4:06 PM: Julien Gauthier is now in Covid protocol. (NYR)
3:32 PM: Dryden Hunt is not skating today with what the team says is an upper-body issue and that he is day to day. (NYR)
Julien Gauthier was also not on the ice as the team waited for his Covid test result. (Stephenson)
The lines being used today are (Stephenson):
- Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Kaapo Kakko
- Alexis Lafreniere, Ryan Strome, Barclay Goodrow
- Tim Gettinger, Filip Chytil, Morgan Barron, Jonny Brodzinski
- Kevin Rooney, Greg McKegg, Ryan Reaves
Jarred Tinordi and Nils Lundkvist are skating as a third pair and Libor Hajek, Zac Jones and Tarmo Reunanen are rotating. (Stephenson)