The Rangers, after three more days off, finally resume action Saturday against the Predators. After a five-game homestand, New York is on the road versus Nashville. The Blueshirts finally resume a semi-normal schedule in November, with only one three-day gap between games in the month.
Mika Zibanejad did not practice again Friday, as he has been sidelined since Patrice Bergeron's check/hit Sunday. As a result of not practicing today and all week, Zib will not play Saturday. Zib's injury is to his neck, which may due to the whiplash effect after the reverse hit.
Mika Z’s injury is in the neck area, Quinn said.
— Anthony Rieber (@AnthonyRieber) November 1, 2019
The lineup tomorrow, including the goaltender - Alexandar Georgiev will be between the pipes - will be the same as Sunday. In addition, this means Marc Staal, a healthy scratch Tuesday against Tampa Bay, will also be out of the lineup again Nashville. Staal is reportedly not happy about sitting again, but seeing how well the six blueliners who played versus the Lightning, sitting him makes sense.
Kaapo Kakko, more on him below, remains on the third line but will stay on the first unit power play. Allowing him to avoid first line defensive assignments makes sense, as he is sheltered somewhat on the third line. The KCB trio remains intact while Ryan Strome rightly stays on the top unit, looking to build off his recent fine play. I am looking forward to seeing Lindgren and Fox together as a pair again. Georgiev deserves to play, but much of the consternation over Henrik Lundqvist's play has been unwarranted, as he has been under siege and his advanced metrics still far exceed his peers.
Lineup notes ahead of the trip to Nashville:
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 1, 2019
-Same lineup as Tuesday vs. TBL
-Georgiev in 🥅
-Mika will not play and remains day-to-day
Larry Brooks noted that the Rangers reached out to Tuomo Ruttu, who is a development coach for the team in Finland, to spend time with Kakko. Brooks wrote: Ruutu, a 12-year NHL veteran who retired following 2015-16, spent five days last week with the second-overall draft pick. He had been monitoring and interacting with drafted prospects playing in Europe. He adds that the move paid immediate dividends for Kaako, who had a strong game against Tampa.
The 6-foot-1, 181-pound winger played with confidence against the Lightning, getting 10:19 of five-on-five work primarily with linemates Brett Howden and Brendan Lemieux, plus another 4:24 on the first power-play unit. Kakko scored with the man-advantage at 9:37 of the second period when his right-circle wrister off a neat stutter-step move banked in off defenseman Braydon Coburn’s skate after a right-pad save from Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Thought this was pretty cool:
New York legends @EdwardNorton, @MikeFrancesa and @nbcsnl's Lorne Michaels talk growing up around hockey, the historic @NYRangers and @NJDevils 1994 rivalry and @HLundqvist30's future in acting at @FilmLinc @TheNYFF. pic.twitter.com/eQYtn3jeOo
— NHL (@NHL) November 1, 2019