3:32 PM: Gerard Gallant spoke after practice and said (NYR):
- On only having 12 forwards, “yea, we’ll see. Hopefully Fil is out short term, but we’ll see how long it’s going to take and go from there. We put Goodrow in that spot.”
- On how Chytil was playing before the injury, “he played great, real consistent, really played well, real happy with his game.”
- Do you think this could derail how Chytil was playing, “With Fil? I think there are no issues, hopefully it’s short term and we’ll go from there. Get healthy first and then back into the game, but he’s played really good hockey for us.”
- Is the team in the right from of mind after the last two, “Yea, they were frustrating games, no doubt, two teams come in here and we didn’t play our best hockey and I think that is the lesson you learn, if you don’t play your best game, no matter who you are playing against, the so-called elite or so-called teams that aren’t supposed to beat you. You gotta play your best hockey against everybody no matter who you are playing. We’re playing the Stanley Cup champs tomorrow and I’m sure we’re going to be ready, but you gotta come ready to play 82 games and I don’t think we played our best hockey. We didn’t play bad hockey, but we didn’t play good hockey and you gotta play good hockey to win in this league.”
- What kind of challenge are the Avs, “They are going to be a big challenge no matter what time of the year you play those guys. From Day 1 I talked about the identity of our team and what we want to be and what we have to get to. First game against Tampa Bay I think we’ve seen our team. Some spots between the last five games we’ve seen our team, but not enough. You gotta be consistent and play a full 60.”
- Do you think that playing fast sets you apart as a team, “Definitely. We talk about being an aggressive forechecking team and that is where it starts, playing fast. If you play fast in all zones you’re a good hockey team. We haven’t looked fast and haven’t played fast in a good part of the season. Again, it’s six games, but the two games we did play fast, we looked pretty good.”
- Would you go back-to-back with Igor this week, “I haven’t thought about it, I know who is playing tomorrow, but from that point we’ll decide after the game tomorrow. We haven’t… Benny has a plan and he’ll tell me today.”
- Does Goodrow’s versatility allow you to feel comfortable just carrying 12 forwards, “I don’t know what we are going to do with the roster, that is not my department. We got 12 forwards and I’m comfortable with that, there is no doubt. We’ll see where it goes. I don’t think it’s going to be that long, but we’ll see.”
- What have you seen from Vesey so far, “He had a great training camp, I think the season was flat more than anything. He’s played with different people all through training camp and when we got a healthy lineup he didn’t play on the top lines like he did in the preseason. I just want him to play his game, he’s a solid guy, plays two-way hockey, works hard, just go out there and play your game. He’s done nothing wrong, it’s just that we were trying to get different guys in the lineup. Go in there and play. It’s a reset for our team, we didn’t like the last two games, we’re getting challenged tomorrow night by the Stanley Cup Champs, so I want everyone to go in there and play and that is what we talked about today. Play your game, play the best you can no matter who you’re playing with, go play.”
12:02 PM: The Rangers have announced that Filip Chytil will be out for at least a week and will likely miss the next four games (Tuesday against Colorado, Wednesday against the Islanders, Saturday in Dallas and Sunday in Arizona). (Brooks)
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Chytil left last night’s game with an upper body injury.
To replace Chytil, the Rangers put together a line of Jimmy Vesey, Barclay Goodrow and Vitali Kravtsov. (Staple)
Sammy Blais is skating with Ryan Carpenter and Ryan Reaves on the fourth line. (Brooks)