Earlier today the Rangers called up Matt Beleskey from Hartford and sent Tim Gettinger down.

Brady Skjei is believed to be out of tonight’s lineup as David Quinn said earlier today that a Ranger defenseman was battling an injury. (Stephenson)

According to the Rangers lineup sheet, the third pair on defense is Brendan Smith and Tony DeAngelo. (Stephenson)

5:37PM: Quinn spoke and said (NYR):

• On being vocal at practice, “last night wasn’t acceptable and we felt that today was an opportunity to correct some of the things that have crept into our game and be better against Montreal.”
• On DeAngelo at forward, “that was more to round out the lines. He won’t be playing forward against Montreal. Vinny is coming up.”
• On Georgiev starting, “we want to have both guys ready to go. Hank is our guy but Georgie is a guy that we trust and we want to give him ample opportunity to continue to grow and you need to two goalies.
• On McQuaid, “he is getting closer, might be another two weeks or so but he is getting closer.”
• On Howden, “I don’t love putting a cap on a guy, he has an awful lot of talent and is so far for us a great two-way forward, productive offensively, responsible in our end and kills penalties. He’s done a little bit of everything for us and at 20-years old you never want to project a guy because sometimes it hinders their growth. I just want him to get better at the pace he is getting better and be the best player he can possibly be and see where it takes him.”
• Was the situation with Shattenkirk resolved, “absolutely. You will see him tomorrow night. (Smile)
• Is it easier or more difficult to make those decisions, “after, it makes it more difficult but when you make those decisions you just make them because it’s what needs to happen.”
• Why do you still have to bench someone like Shattenkirk, “family, we all have famillies and disagreements yet we all still love each other. Sometimes those actions call for those reactions but you move past it. Literally, there is zero issue moving forward.”

3:54PM: At Rangers practice on Friday it was announced that Vinni Lettieri will be called up and that Alex Georgiev will start in net against Montreal. (Stephenson)

The lines being used were (Stephenson):

• Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, Filip Chytil
• Jimmy Vesey, Mika Zibanejad, Jesper Fast
• Ryan Strome, Brett Howden, Lias Andersson

Tony DeAngelo was skating with Tim Gettinger and Steven Fogarty but with Lettieri coming up, it’s likely that DeAngelo will be scratched tomorrow. (Stephenson)

The defense pairs used were Marc Staal and Neal Pionk, Freddy Claesson and Kevin Shattenkirk, Brady Skjei and Brendan Smith. (Stephenson)

David Quinn met with the media on MSG following the Rangers loss in Ottawa and said:

• On the game, “when things didn’t go well we made them worse. There are going to be stretches where you don’t play well and you hope to stop them and be mentally tough enough and get your wits about you and regroup and we never did it. We got worse and worse as the game went on. I thought there were some good things early, even though they were up 2-0, but we never really got it to the point where we had a chance.”
• On the home/road issue, “nothing that we have noticed. We have played some good road games, certainly not lately, but we will sit and talk and regroup and practice tomorrow and get ready for Montreal. We have to make it better.”
• On the lineup, “I can’t really point to many people that had good nights tonight. There wasn’t a lot of good. All you need to know is that we never got a PP and I never felt there was a time where the ref should have called a penalty on them and to me that speaks volumes about the lack of effort and physicality and desire to get inside and go to the net.”
• On Shattenkirk not playing in the third, “that will be between Kevin and I.”
• Did it have to do with his play, “that will be between Kevin and I.”
• “I thought there were some good things after they made it 1-0. Our best chances were in the first and we weren’t able to capitalize. They got the second one which was a little too easy for my liking, we had total control of the puck and made a poor decision and they came down and scored and that was really when I thought things started to unravel a little bit. Second period I didn’t like at all either, there just wasn’t a lot of good tonight.”

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Shattenkirk played 13:58 and had two shots on goal but did not see a shift in the third period.

He played 6:52 in the first and 7:06 in the second and when he was on the ice the Rangers had 15 shot attempts for and 10 against. (Natural Stat Trick)

7:04PM: David Quinn said earlier today (NYR):

• On if someone is going to be called up, “we are going to talk about that on the plane. It will give us something to do.”
• Is 7 D possible, “I don’t love it but it is on the table. I want to get Freddy back in, he didn’t deserve to come out. These have been hard conversations because all of these guys have played well. We will have a clearer picture after we land in Ottawa.”
• On Monday’s performance not being good enough for tomorrow, “for sure, we know what we are in for tomorrow night. You play a team back to back, you beat them, a little more urgency on their end of it. They had a big win yesterday so they are feeling good about themselves and we are going to face an opponent feeling good and looking for redemption.”
• On potentially reshuffled lines, “when there is an injury there is a domino effect. I had been thinking about tinkering but more-so the injury snowballed that decision.”
• Could Ryan Strome see PP time, “yes.”

1:29PM: The Rangers have announced that neither Vlad Namestnikov or Mats Zuccarello will join the team on their two-game road trip to Ottawa and Montreal.

Namestnikov is in the concussion protocol after suffering a hit late in Rangers win over Ottawa on Monday.

 

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In an interview with a Russian publication, Pavel Buchnevich said (Sport-Express):

• He has about a week until he can get on the ice with a stick and that right now his hand still hurts when he makes a fist.
• David Quinn has “rightly demanded certain things from me” and that he can’t be the only forward that doesn’t come back on defense.
• “There is no hostility towards me, he wants me to play correctly.”
• When he returns “it will take time” to get back to the level he was at when injured.
• He went to lunch with David Quinn to discuss why he was scratched and was shown video of situations where he needed to be more physical.
• The two communicate well and understand each other despite the potential of a language barrier.
• He is doing his best to play at a certain level each night without falling below that threshold.
• He would enjoy playing with Artemi Panarin and that he thinks the Rangers would “quickly” find a spot for him in the locker room.
• He will worry about his future at another time but his focus is on staying with the Rangers and in the NHL.
• Alex Georgiev has “huge” potential.
• He isn’t sure about the World Championships this spring because he will be without a contract for next season.

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Earlier today in his 30 Thoughts Column, Elliotte Friedman mentioned Rangers assistant GM Chris Drury as someone who the Flyers may ask permission to speak to about their vacant GM job.

On Insider Trading on TSN, Bob McKenzie also mentioned Drury’s name and said “what is interesting about names like Drury and Mike Futa amongst others, do they go from names that are just out there to somebody that the Flyers actually ask permission for to talk to.”

Pierre LeBrun said on TSN and writes in The Athletic that the Flyers may be down to four names and that former Minnesota GM Chuck Fletcher could be the front runner.

Drury is in his third-year as Rangers assistant GM and is in his second season as GM of the Hartford Wolfpack.

From the Rangers Media Guide, “In his expanded role, Drury assists Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton on all player transactions and contract negotiations, and he is responsible for all hockey-related matters for the Wolf Pack. Drury also helps Gorton in overseeing and evaluating all players at the collegiate level.”

Adam Rotter: Drury’s name is going to be a common one brought up whenever there is a GM opening. He’s still relatively new to being in management but he has a big and important role with the Rangers. I’m sure the Rangers have no interest in letting Drury speak to anyone while under contract, especially in the middle of the season and ESPECIALLY if that team is the Flyers or anyone else in their division. One of the big perks about working with the Rangers for Drury is that he can still reside in Connecticut and unless the Whalers return or, maybe, the Bruins make a big run at him at some point, what he has with the Rangers is unique. My guess is that Drury will be with the Rangers for as long as he chooses and will continue to take a big part in shaping the present and future of the Rangers.