The Rangers begin a four-game home stand with a contest against the Flyers tonight at MSG. Philly comes in 5-2-1, led by Carter Hart, who has a ..938 save percentage. Old friends Kevin Hayes, Tony DeAngelo and coach John Tortorella are back in town tonight. New York enters the game off victories in back-to-back road contests this past weekend. Congrats to Artemi Panarin who was named the third star of the month of October after scoring five goals and dishing out 11 assists.
Lines:
Forwards: Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere Vesey - Goodrow - Gauthier Blais - Carpenter - Reaves
Defense: Lindgren - Fox Miller - Trouba Jones - Schneider
Filip Chytil is day to day and skated on his own this morning. Injured October 23 against Columbus, Chytil practiced last Friday but left early as he felt unwell. When that happened, as I noted in a few blogs, my view was that he was doubtful for tonight. He may still be having concussion or post-concussion symptoms, putting his return date up in the air. When he is ready to return, New York should err on the side of caution and give him another game to make sure he is 100% ready.
Vitali Kravtsov is out at least a week with his upper body injury. He did not skate this am, which comes as no surprise. If the injury is a concussion - as speculated - how do you allow Kravtsov to fly from Anaheim to Phoenix and from Phoenix home to NY?
Kravtsov put himself in a dangerous and vulnerable position against Anaheim, contributing to the injury. This thought was stated by coach Gerard Gallant today below. Kravtsov needs to be stronger, but while he hopefully gets there later this year, for now, he needs to be smarter when he goes into the corner or boards.
“You got to play the game hard, you got to play the game aggressive, but he probably put himself in a bad situation the other night. I want him going and being first on pucks, we talked about it. Not be a little smarter, but be a little safer than that. It’s too bad, because he’s played okay.…
Igor Shesterkin will be between the pipes. I expect him to play Thursday against Boston as well. Jaroslav Halak might go Sunday against Detroit with Igor taking on the Isles the following Tuesday. After games November 10 in Detroit and 12 in Nashville, the team is home the 13th against Anaheim then has three days off before the start of a four-game West Coast swing November 17 in Seattle. After the November 19 game in SJ, the completion of the three games in Cali are back-to-back contests the 22nd and 23rd against LA and Ana. The schedule allows for Gallant and goaltending coach Benout Alaire to be aggressive in playing Shesterkin if they want, which should be the case.