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Game 45: NYR-NYI, Tonight kicks off three games in nine days between rivals |
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The Rangers begin a stretch of three games in nine days against the Islanders. Tonight’s and next Tuesday’s contest is at MSG while Thursday’s game will be at the Nassau Coliseum. In between the three games will be a contest against the suddenly hot Columbus Blue Jackets at MSG on Sunday.
David Quinn Pre-Game
Pavel Buchnevich may miss the game with the flu. If he is sidelined, Phil Di Giuseppe, called up Sunday for Steven Fogarty, will be in the lineup. Where though is unclear. Buch has been skating on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Quinn could move Jesper Fast from the second to the first line, but that leaves a hole alongside Ryan Strome and Artem Panarin. Kaapo Kakko could slide from the third to the first line, but the line of Brett Howden-Filip Chytil-Kakko was the team’s best unit Saturday, so moving him could adversely impact two lines. I would presume one of those players will get moved with Di Giuseppe sliding into the vacated spot, likely on the bottom-six. Reemmber when we thought the team had too much depth?
If Buch sits, the second unit PP requires shuffling as well. In practice today, Chytil was in front, Kakko in the right circle, Howden in the slot with Trouba and Fox up top. The top unit was not good at all Saturday, wasting a 5-on-3 chance. If no movement, puck and player, success will be fleeting, as we saw against the Blues, even with good net-front presence from Kreider.
The tweet below is one possible reason for Alexandar Georgiev to be between the pipes:
In his pre-game press conference above, Quinn on Georgiev starting: "It’s not an ideal situation, as we’ve all talked about. And we wanted to get Hank and Georgie a game in, after Igor had his two starts, and then we were really going to kind of sit down and figure out what the next step is." I would have hoped a plan would have been fleshed out before Igor Shesterkin, who will be in the press box tonight, was promoted. In addition, I can understand the plan getting modified a bit after he started 1-2 games, because if he struggled, that might change the team’s view. But all these permutations should have been on the table and fleshed out well before the promotion so that knee jerk reactions or game-by-game decisions rather than a plan would not be the case. However, that appears to not be the case.
Marc Staal is a game-time decision. He took place in the morning skate. If he can’t go, Libor Hajek will suit up in his stead. If the forwards were healthy, I might use Brendan Smith opposite ADA if Staal was sidelined. But with Buch possibly out and not enough true depth, no way that move can occur. Hopefully Staal plays, because Hajek certainly looked like he needed some time Hartford on Saturday. Though expecting him to slide right in against the Blues after missing 16 games and only having a handful of practices was likely unfair.
Congrats to Tony DeAngelo, who was voted the second star of the week. Not touching Ek’s rumor on Toronto having interest in ADA and have already discussed the Georgiev rumors. Right now, all of this is lots of hot air and great fodder for discussion but with nothing tangible. You know my view on keeping the three goalies and wouldn’t want an inferior return just to move Georgiev. Though the loss of Morgan Rielly to a broken foot could increase the price of ADA and could we interest you in Staal with some salary eaten?
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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