At practice on Tuesday, Vincent Trocheck and Adam Fox had maintenance days and the Rangers had new lines that included (Staple):

• Alexis Lafreniere, Ryan Carpenter, Vitali Kravtsov
• Sammy Blais, Barclay Goodrow, Julien Gauthier
  • K’Andre Miller skated with Braden Schneider
  • Zac Jones skated with Jacob Trouba

Gerard Gallant spoke after practice and said (NYR):

• On Trouba and Miller possibly splitting up, “if we decide to do that it would be because we want more depth in all pairs. We like the way guys are playing, we like the way that Fox and Lindy are playing, but we might bring a little bit more, if we decide to do that, experience to the other two pairs, that is the only reason. They’ve had a tough g, goals again on them, but they are a great pair and played well together all of last year and this year it’s a little bit of a struggle for them, but that is okay, we’ll battle through it….we’ll see where we’re gonna go and decide.”
• On Jacob Trouba’s game and if being the Captain is impacting it, “I don’t see that, honestly. The only thing different is maybe with the media, the Captain has to do more media, but he hasn’t changed in the dressing room or the way he comes to practice or is around our team and our guys. I don’t think that has any effect.”
• On having to find a way to fight out of this stretch, “it’s so true. We just gotta fight and battle, we know we are better than our record is, better than that and that we can play better hockey and that is the whole group, the group of us all. Let’s get better and work at it. No sense getting mad at each other or frustrated and yelling at each other. We come to work and practice and try to get better in practice and go to the games and prepare the same way and hopefully get better results.”
• Did you see that today in practice, “I liked our practice, there was no sulking. Game is over last night, you get ready for the next one and there is nothing you can do about the first 20 games…”
• Do you think that Trouba’s nagging injuries are impacting him, “it definitely affects it, for sure. There is no doubt. We all do our jobs and try to do them the best we can and when you’re not 100% you still do the best you can, you are still a good player, still a valuable player for us. When you’ve got some injuries you can’t do certain things.”
• Has there been any talk of giving Trouba a game off, “no, it’s not…he takes some practice days off. He wouldn’t allow that, trust me.”
• On how hard Shesterkin is on himself, “he’s a professional player, Vezina Trophy winner, great goalie. If he wants to be hard on himself and thinks that is what it takes…he’s fine. We know what he brings to the table, he gives us a chance to win every time he plays and that is really important. We love him, he’s great for our team and great for our group and we’ll get by that.”
• On the PP last night, “I see it hungry at the end when we scored, but I didn’t see it as hungry or going down and being aggressive enough. We move the puck around and do the things that we do, but it just didn’t seem like we were interesting in getting the pucks to the net and battling and then when we did it Trocheck gets a goal with people at the net. Just gotta get a little bit more hungry, we still make our plays, still get our chances, but when you put pucks there and there are people in the blue paint that is when you have your most success and that is what happened last night.”
• What do you want to see from Kravtsov if he goes back in, “Like I talked to him earlier in the year, just show us your skill, show us your talent and work ethic. We talk about what kind of players we want in our hockey team, we want them to play fast, a 200 ft game, be responsible defensively and show us your talent and skill.”
• On Chytil and Panarin as a line last night, “I liked a lot of it. It wasn’t perfect all night, but theou make them, re were some good signs, for sure.”
• Are there other things you can do to cut down on turnovers, “When you watch practice and see some of the drills we do about keeping the puck out of the middle of the ice when it’s not a direct play and you chip it off the boards with support and that is what we preach, that is what every coach preaches at every practice, when you have plays to be made in the middle of the ice you make them, if not, teams are very good at shutting down the middle, chip some pucks, support some pucks and play in our zone, that is what we try an do and, again, I was fortunate enough to play the game years ago and it’s the same thing over and over again. When you turn pucks over in the middle of the ice nothing good happens from it.”
• Is it frustrating when your turnovers fuel the other team, “yea, off the rush and we score our goals off the rush, that is what we do pretty well. It’s frustrating, but, again, I’m going to let our players play the game. We can’t make decisions for them on the bench, it’s a fast game, you see a play, the other team is good sometimes and they take that play away. It happens both ways, they had a lot of turnovers too last night that we looked at too, it’s part of the game.”
• Do you think Igor should get a break, “we’ll decide this afternoon.”