NYR News

Filip Chytil and Patrik Nemeth, who both missed Monday’s win over LA, are not practicing today. (Brooks)

The lines being used today are (Stephenson):

• Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Julien Gauthier
• Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome, Barclay Goodrow
• Alexis Lafreniere, Morgan Barron, Dryden Hunt
• Greg McKegg, Kevin Rooney, Ryan Reaves

Gerard Gallant spoke after practice and said (NYR):

• On Chytil and Nemeth, “Chytil is day to day and Nemeth is personal.”
• Is there a chance they will got to Columbus, “there is a chance, Nemeth isn’t coming.”

• Do you look at the next four heading into the All-Star break as a set, “I do, but they don’t, but I do, definitely. Every game is a big game, we have four and then a couple of weeks break after that and it’d be nice to play real good and get some good wins in those four games, for sure. You always try to push your team, you’re in a good spot, but you’d like to push it a little further.”
• On Gauthier with Kredier and Zibanejad, “when he plays his game it’s a lot of speed, drives the net, he scored the other night, around the blue paint. We mix and match lines because of different reasons, injuries, Covid, but every team does the same and we want to give him an opportunity and he deserves that opportunity.”
• Have you been more likely to make line changes during the games, “Like I told you from early on, it’s perfect when I can throw the four lines out and everything is going well and playing well, sometimes as a coach you talk to the staff and say ‘try this, try that’ for different reasons. There have been a lot of different reasons lately.”
• You gave Schneider a chance on the PK, “I didn’t….(laugh) Gord Murphy did (laugh). Honestly, I can’t even recall the situation. You watch the game back, but he’s going to be a Trouba, he’s a mini-Trouba right now, that is what the kid is going to be and when Troubs was in the box, I didn’t realize the situation, Murph puts out whoever he is comfortable with to kill the penalty and I think the kid did a fair job. I didn’t notice any big mistake, I know that.”
• What have you thought of Schneider, “Like him a lot. To me he looks like a mini-Trouba right now, young kid, getting better every game, plays a physical brand, got some skill, scored a goal, I think he hit a crossbar in Carolina with a great shot. There is a combination of a lot of good things there and just growing his game and he’s a young kid and going out there and makes very few mistakes.”
• On Kreider saying the PK has made him a better player, “I just think it’s his personal game, his confidence, he grew a lot of confidence from it, he played with Mika for a long time and they are a good pair. For whatever, this year he’s obviously got a lot more PK time that he had in the past and he’s striving under it, likes and enjoys it and I think it keeps him more in the game so he’s a better all around player and give credit to him, he’s never done it before very much and he took it. When we started the season this year we didn’t have a lot of PK guys and he got the opportunity and did a great job.”
• Are you willing to say who will play in goal tomorrow, “Nope” (Smile)
• On Alexis Lafreniere not getting a lot of ice time in the third against LA, “no reason for him, it was reason for our team and the game before that we went to three lines and we did real well and we weren’t generating a lot and losing 2-1 so I wanted to go back to three lines and get our top players out a little bit more. It was sort of rotating the third and fourth line a bit. It was nothing that he did wrong, it was just me trying to get us back in the game and getting our top guys on the ice a little more and we made a switch with Gauthier earlier in the game.”
• On Lafreniere scoring in the shootout, “He’s a young player, it’s all about winning for our team, not about who is going to be out there the most. If Reaves doesn’t play 12 minutes he’s still a big part of our team, they are all a big part of our team and want to win games and that is the best thing for our group, it’s about winning games, not about personal goals. I think that is why they are striving right now, gotta keep going with that and we are having fun and enjoying it and finding ways to win games.”
• On Hajek against LA, “good, solid, played hard, competed hard, had to leave for 10 minutes but he was fine, played solid.”
• On the first periods and starts, “We talk about it the last four games, it was an issue for two games and we talked about it. I want to forget about it so maybe they don’t think about, but as coaches you are always saying ‘let’s have a good start, we’re at home.’ It doesn’t matter where you are at, but you want a good start and it hasn’t been a problem all year long, it’s been a problem over the last 4-5 and hopefully we get off to a better one tomorrow. I’m not saying it’s a concern, because the other night, when I watch the game back, they outshot us 11-3, but, really, we had the better two chances in the first period. They hit the post and then we scored the goal and they probably had one save where Shesterkin had to make a big save. but there wasn’t a whole lot of action. In saying that, we gotta be better, don’t get me wrong.”
• On the approach to a back-to-back, “I made it clear early in the year that we don’t use an excuse for back-to-back games. I personally like them because when you do play back-to-back you usually get a couple of days off after that and the guys respect that. There were some times in our schedule earlier on when we played 3 in 4 or 4 in 6 and that was tough, but back-t0-backs I have no issue with them.”
• But is it one game at a time or them as a set, “we take care of the first game first and then we worry about the second one after. It’s, think about Columbus tomorrow night and we’ve done it enough times, done the scenario where you go on the road and play the first game and come back and get ready for the second game when it’s over. The game is over, you fly back, go to your house, there is no morning skate, no morning meetings, you get prepared for the next night. With the Lundqvist night it’s going to be a bit more exciting coming to the rink and getting ready for that night, but back-to-backs are no issue for me.”
• Do you view ice time as important for development of young players, “if it was 2-3 minutes I would, but when it’s 8-10-11-13, no.”
• There isn’t a huge difference between 10 and 15 minutes, “no. I wouldn’t want to play a kid for 2-3 minutes in a game, that isn’t right, there is no development there, but 8-12-15 minutes, that is a big part of the game, important part of the game. It’s not your top end players playing that, but the third and fourth line, sometimes, that is the way the game goes and how it ends up. It’s not because we are disappointed in their play, when you are playing your top guys 20-21 minutes certain nights it happens.”
• What does Gauthier have to do to be a top-line guy, “he’s getting a chance to play with some guys because some guys are hurt, it opens the door for him. Same with Libor, when Libor didn’t play a bunch of games, it opens a door for him and gives him an opportunity. They are young players, take it and run with it….and make the coaches look bad, that is what we want.”