Gerard Gallant met with the media following practice on Tuesday and said the following about the lineup (NYR):
- Is Kravtsov ready to play, “I’ll know more this afternoon, but he looked great out there. He was flying and looked really healthy, but I haven’t been told that yet.”
- Does Kravtsov go in if he’s healthy, “I don’t know, we haven’t made that decision. We just played a pretty good, strong game. I like the way the lines were going after the first period, but I’ll decide. We have two days to decide that and we have a good practice tomorrow. But he looked really good, so I can’t see them saying to me that he’s not ready to play.”
- Do you make lineup decisions based on the opponent and how does that impact Ryan Reaves, “Not a whole lot, really. Sometimes, obviously, the Nashville game on the road, big and physical team and you put into that, but I don’t like making decisions on who you are playing, to put your lineup out, does it come into effect? Yes, I’m not going to lie to you, but I want Reavo to be a good player every night and be a big part of our group and that’s what we asked from day one. Right now we added some more speed to our group and when he doesn’t play that’s probably the reason, adding more speed. When Reavo plays well, I love having him be a part of our group, a big part of our group.”
- On the team’s identity right now, “Same as it was last year, no difference. We play some real good games, I think we’ve improved defensively, still gotta get better, but we improved defensively and I’d like us to put a few more pucks in the net at 5-on-5, we gotta get better there. And, again, it’s a different team than last year, we had Hunt there and now Vesey is there, so different people are playing in different spots. I guess you always say that you wish you had set lines for the whole year, it’s never going to happen, no team it happens like that.”
- Are you seeing anything with Miller and Trouba being on for a lot of goals against, “I don’t judge the plus/minus. Bread is minus-eight, I wish he was plus 8, but I still think he’s playing great hockey. I don’t put it on a pair or defenseman or one individual, we look at the goal and see what the faults are. I don’t really put it like that, I really don’t.”
- On Trouba and Miller specifically, “Maybe they are playing a little bit too much hockey, they are playing against top-lines, both of them are. A little bad streak? Maybe. A little bit unlucky? Maybe. But I’m not really worried about it, to be honest with you. They are good players and play a lot for us every night.”
Jacob Trouba had a maintenance day. (Brooks)