The Rangers look to extend their win streak to four games Friday in Philadelphia. The hope is that Mats Zuccarello, who missed the last three games after re-aggravating his groin injury, will be able to suit up for the contest, New York will be without Cody McLeod as he was diagnosed with a fractured hand suffered in his fight with Ross Johnston on Wednesday and will be sidelined 4-6 weeks. Following today's game, New York will take on Columbus at home Saturday.
I added this information to the prior blog once the news broke but including below in case this wasn't seen in the revised blog Thursday.
McLeod news:
#NYR update: Cody McLeod - fractured hand.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 22, 2018
Staal, Mika, and Namestnikov - maintenance.
Below is the fight. Can't see where is injured, but at :29 second mark, McLeod starts looking at his hand and he goes right off the ice.
This is a heavyweight bout. #NYR #Isles pic.twitter.com/qAulFkZgcq
— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) November 22, 2018
On the blue line, Brendan Smith could be a healthy scratch again. All six blue liners played well Wednesday, so who sit for Smith? If New York goes 11/7, then Smith automatically gets in. If not, he may be in the press box again, leaving Skjei-DeAngelo, Staal-Pionk and Claesson-Shattenkirk as the D combinations again.
Henrik Lundqvist will be back between the pipes. Lundqvist, who has started 17 of 22 games, could also go Saturday against the Blue Jackets, Coach David Quinn hasn't yet decided if Lundqvist will play back-to-back games or Alexandar Georgiev, fresh off his shutout win Wednesday against the Islanders, will get the nod. That may well depend on the type of game against Philly and how much Lundqvist is tested in the contest.
Presuming what I wrote above transpires, here is the potential Rangers' lineup:
20 Chris Kreider - 13 Kevin Hayes - 72 Filip Chytil 90 Vladislav Namestnikov - 93 Mika Zibanejad - 36 Mats Zuccarello 26 Jimmy Vesey - 21 Brett Howden - 16 Ryan Strome 38 Steven Fogarty - 50 Lias Andersson -…‹ 17 Jesper Fast
18 Marc Staal - 44 Neal Pionk 33 Fredrik Claesson - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk 76 Brady Skjei - 77 Anthony DeAngelo…‹
30 Henrik Lundqvist / 40 Alexandar Georgiev…‹
Scratches: 8 Cody McLeod (IR, fractured thumb), 42 Brendan Smith (healthy), 54 Adam McQuaid (IR, lower body), 89 Pavel Buchnevich (IR, broken thumb).
FLYERS PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change, from Bill Meltzer's blog)
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny 23 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek 25 James van Riemsdyk - 40 Jordan Weal - 17 Wayne Simmonds 21 Scott Laughton- 15 Jori Lehterठ- 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 8 Robert Hà¤gg 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 26 Christian Folin 6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas
33 Cal Pickard [34 Alex Lyon]
Scratches: 47 Andrew MacDonald (healthy), 39 Tyrell Goulbourne (healthy), 37 Brian Elliott (lower body), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body), 12 Michael Raffl (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).
Neal Pionk did a Q&A with Steve Serby for the NY Post (https://nypost.com/2018/11/22/neal-pionks-dad-cut-him-once-but-now-hes-living-the-dream/). These are two of my favorite quotes from the column:
Q: Coach David Quinn. A: He’s a great coach. I think the best part is that he’ll vocalize what he wants, and he’ll let you know. There’s no hidden secrets.Q: This is supposed to be a rebuilding year. What are your thoughts on that? A: We we don’t like using the word “rebuild… around here. We got some of the best players on the league. I think as we’ve shown through the first six weeks here so we can run with anyone.