7:41 PM: Ryan Reaves will be scratched tonight and, Greg McKegg will return and Libor Hajek will come into the lineup as the Rangers go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. (Stephenson)
2:30 PM: Igor Shesterkin will start against the Stars tonight in Dallas. (Stephenson)
Greg McKegg rejoined the team and Gerard Gallant said “that is great to see. He came in yesterday and he’s back with the team, he’s ready to go.”
Gallant spoke after the morning skate and said (NYR):
- Are you going to change anything, “We might change a few things tonight.”
- Is it because you want to shuffle the lineup or send a message, “we’re not 100% sure of the lineup right now. We are going to look at some things and decide. We gotta play better, play harder, that is all. We gotta compete more for pucks and win 1-0n-1 battles a little more.”
- Doing that is more important than any lineup change, “definitely.”
- Will you change the defense pairs, “we might do something short-term, but we are far from the point of changing up our d-pairs. You can do it in the short term a little bit and shake things up a little bit, but besides that, I like where our group is. I don’t like how we’ve played lately, but I still like our group.”
- Is it important to see them respond, “I hope they do, battle hard, compete hard. We are playing against a real good team that doesn’t give up a lot, they play a real tight game, their last game I think they lost 2-1 in a real tight battle and that is how they are playing it, they are playing playoff hockey and we gotta get to more of that. We are giving up too many chances, the last two games we’ve given up a lot of chances and haven’t created enough. That is the difference, when you are desperate and trying to win games and Dallas is right on that bubble line now and playing desperate hockey and I’d like to see our team play a little bit more like that tonight.”
- On Fox and Lindgren, “It was a tough game, tough night, they probably had the toughest night more than anybody else, but I didn’t like our team. I’m not putting it on Fox and Lindy, I didn’t like how our team competed and battled and I said that.”