Gerard Gallant spoke after practice on Monday and said (NYR):
- How much can Shesterkin play the rest of the year, “I’m not concerned about that, honestly. Things change day to day in our business, I’m worried about tomorrow’s game, I’m not worried about Igor playing 30 games or 35 games or 15 games, I’m worried about getting a good goalie in the net for the next 35. It’s not about Igor or Georgie, it’s about winning hockey games and playing and who is ready to go.”
- Is there an overall message now that the season is starting back up, “no, just continue to do what we are doing. I like where we are at in the standings, we are playing hard, working hard, had a great break, four good days of practice. Everybody should be ready and refreshed and ready to go again. I know we are getting tired of practicing, it seems like it’s been a month and a half since we played, I’m sure the guys are ready to play a game, definitely.”
- On the practice time, “it’s just getting ready, we did a couple of d-zone coverage drills, a little bit of contact, it’s good. You gotta get back, it’s been roughly two weeks since we played and you always worry as a coach to get involved in the game physically, early, because you know you are playing a Boston team that plays a physical game and we know we have to make sure we are ready for the start of it. We’re pretty healthy right now, get right back at it and hopefully have a good start tomorrow night.”
- On taking advantage of the home games the rest of the way, “Continue to do what we are doing, we’ve got a good home record, played well in our building. We’ve had some let downs, a bad period here or there, but overall we’ve got a great home record and just continue to do what we are doing. I don’t care where we are playing, it’s about playing that same game and I think we are getting closer to that every night.”
- Is Nemeth available tomorrow, “I do not know yet, I’m not sure, but he’s had four good practices, so that is good.”
- Is Nemeth fine physically, (Smile) “he’s had four good practices, that is all I’m gonna give you.” (laugh)
At Rangers practice on Monday the lines remained as (Walker):
- Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafreniere
- Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome, Barclay Goodrow
- Dryden Hunt, Filip Chytil, Julien Gauthier
- Greg McKegg, Kevin Rooney, Ryan Reaves