6:30PM: Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren are all back in the lineup. (MSG)

Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad are also back in the lineup. (MSG)

1:11PM: Gerard Gallant spoke after the morning skate and said (NYR):

• What is the latest with Panarin and Copp, “just day to day, getting, just being cautious.”
• Did those two skate this morning, “no.”
• You expect them for the playoffs, “yes, I fully expect them. Just being safe.”

• Are you going with the regular lineup tonight, “I’m not sure it’s going to be 100% regular, but it’s going to be a lot better lineup, a lot more guys are coming in.”
• Who is the goalie, “Georgie.”
• Did you consider splitting tonight’s game to get Shesterkin some work, “not at this time of the year, I wouldn’t. Obviously just for the reasons that you bring the goalie in cold halfway through the hockey game. It’s crossed your mind, but I don’t like it.”
• Was it easy to sit Shesterkin tonight, “tonight? It was an easy decision. I talk to Benny tand we make a plan and go with the plan and everything is going according to plan.”
• Is Tyler Motte skating, “he’s not skating yet, no, but it’s basically the same. He’s not going to be available for the next little while, but we’ll see day to day after that.”
• Is first or second round possible for Motte, “I’m not going there. It’s getting better, improving a lot, but he’s not skating. Could it be sometime in the first round? Possible, but they haven’t told me that.”
• Are all the other guys who sat the other night playing tonight, “I’m not going to tell you for sure, I’m not 100% sure right now, but a good portion of those guys are playing.”
• Why would some of the players who sat on Wednesday come back in, “For Shesterkin it’s just about getting him prepared the right way. Benny wants to prepare him the right way and thinks it’s better off not to play him tonight and get the rest and preparation, that is why we are going with that. I agree with it, Georgie has played really well down the stretch, 6-0 up to last game. It’s no issue, we are trying to prepare for Game 1 and we talked about what the best preparation and, obviously, if Shesterkin is going to go in Game 1, the preparation is better for practices and do that type of stuff.”
• Is better prep for the skaters who were out to play, “It’s sitting for a week for those guys, different scenario. They’ve played a lot of hockey games over the years. Mika, Kreider play a lot of minutes every night and the other two guys, Trouba and Fox, might be missing somebody, but those four guys played a lot minutes every night. We could sit them again tonight, but they didn’t want to sit the other night.”
• Did those guys tell you they didn’t want to sit out, “I told them (laugh). This time I told them (laugh).”

11 AM: Alex Georgiev will start in net against the Capitals. (Stephenson)

Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp were not on the ice at the morning skate. (Stephenson)

Zac Jones was sent back to Hartford. (NYR)

Jones will be part of the playoff taxi squad with Nils Lundkvist, Matthew Robertson, Jarred Tinordi, Lauri Pajuniemi, Tim Gettinger, and Keith Kinkaid. (Brooks)