The Rangers can clinch a playoff spot tonight if the Hurricanes beat the Islanders in regulation.
Tyler Motte has a “significant” upper-body injury.
Filip Chytil is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. (Staple)
Gerard Gallant spoke after practice today and said (NYR):
- On Kakko and Rooney, “they look really good out there, they’ve been skating a long time, conditioning is not an issue. We’ll see once they talk to the trainers when get off the ice and see what tomorrow brings or in the near future, but they’ll probably find out this afternoon what the plan is.”
- Is there a chance Kakko and Rooney play tomorrow, “definitely a chance.”
- You don’t think Kakko and Rooney need to practice before playing, “no, not at this stage, no.”
- What would adding them back mean, “It adds a lot of depth, two really good hockey players, both penalty killers, work hard, compete and do the right things for us. They are a big part of our group.”
- Does getting them back when you might be without Motte and Chytil make it more important, “definitely, for sure. Fil is day-to-day, Motte is longer-term, but Fil is day-to-day, so we’ll see where that goes.”
- Is Motte possibly out for the season, “I wouldn’t go that far, but I don’t know.”
- What did you think of the hit after watching it again, “I didn’t look at it again, to be honest with you. I thought, actually last night, that it was a blow to the head, but it was the back part of the shoulder that got him, I don’t think it was as bad as I thought originally, but I still didn’t like it.”
- Who should be at fault on a hit like that, “the player comes down and he knew Motte didn’t see him and I don’t like the hit because of that. He was in a vulnerable position and I think he took advantage of it a little bit.”
- What have you thought of this year as you are on the verge of clinching, “It’s gone pretty good in my estimate (laugh). Earlier in the year I don’t think we were playing as good of hockey as we could have played, but we still had a good record at that time. I think we’ve played some real good hockey the last 20-30 games and it shows and I think our team is getting better a month at a time. We’ve taken some big steps and we’re a confident bunch of players and we like our team. It’s come a long ways.”
- Has it surpassed your expectations, “I had no expectations. I knew we were going to take a step this year, but I didn’t know what it was going to be, so I’m happy where we are at, there is no doubt, but I didn’t come in and say ‘well, we have to get this amount of points or this amount of points, that wasn’t what the role was, it was one game at a time and we’ve still got 10 left and we’re in good shape right now and we’ve got to keep going.”
- What if someone in October told you this is where you’d be, “I read lots of things of where we’d be back in October, and we’re not there (laugh).”
- What does having a shot at first place mean, “Again, once you get that “x” besides you and hopefully that is going to be tomorrow or tonight or whenever it’s going to be, until that is there you aren’t in the playoffs yet, but it’s good. We’ve had a good first 72 games. I’m happy where we are at, but you can never be satisfied because things change in a minute, so keep playing hard, play the next game, get ready for the next one and worry about Ottawa and things will take care of themselves. Hopefully, three weeks down the road we are getting ready to start a playoff series.”
- Would you prefer to actually clinch rather than clinch tonight, “doesn’t make one bit of difference. With ten games left to go, if you were saying with 1-2 left to go I’d say that, but with 10 games left to go, we deserve where we are at.”
- Will you celebrate tonight if you clinch, “I’m not going to celebrate (laugh). My expectation was to make the playoffs, so I’ll be happy, but I’m not gonna. I’ll celebrate at the end of June, that is when you want to celebrate.”
- How long did it take for players to buy into your system, “Didn’t take long at all. Seriously, when I got here and talked about working with Team Canada last year, guys…systems aren’t a big deal, it’s about doing the right things and playing the right way and executing the right way. When I got to this team I knew there were a few little holes to take care of, but they were on their way up. Years before that they had some good, young players and they had to take another step and that is what we talked about. I think they did a real good job the year before I got here, guys were coming to be better, Kaapo and all the young kids, Miller, Lafreniere and probably missing a couple, but they are on their way up and took another step again this year just like they are probably going to do next year. They are young kids, we’re still a young team, but they took a step and it’s going in the right direction.”
- What did you like about Kakko before he got hurt, “that is a long time, he’s just growing, he’s taken another step, he’s trying to be a man. He controls the puck, is good down low. We want him to score more and take another step there, but he’s been hurt for 8-9 weeks now, so we’ll see where it goes and it might take him a little bit of time here, I know he’s in good shape and ready to play.”