The Rangers make up their postponed November 21 game against Buffalo tonight. Both teams come in having played the night before, so neither gets any sort of edge, though the Sabres will be home. However, one Ranger will be making his debut.
Mackenzie Skapski, a sixth round pick in 2013 and born one day after the Rangers won the Cup in '94, gets the nod between the pipes. with Cam Talbot having started eight straight games in place of the injured Henrik Lundqvist, coach Alain Vigneault opted top give him the day off and go with the ginger-haired rookie. Skapski, who is 20-years old, was 12-7-2 with a 2.39 goals-against average and .914 save percentage for Hartford.
This is a bold move by AV, as the safe stance would have been to just go with Talbot. The hope here has to be twofold: Talbot gets a chance to get some rest and the Rangers D rallies around Skapski as they did Talbot, when he started versus Boston. I understand the move and agree with it to an extent, as it's better to see what the kid has now rather than have to use him in an emergency situation down the road with no experience at all.
The rest of the lineup is the same up front but the revolving door as the sixth d has spun back to Matt Hunwick, meaning John Moore sits. I wrote yesterday that I thought Moore deserved a shot to play for the next week or so to see what he could do, so I vehemently disagree with this change. At this point, you might as well deal Moore, since it's clear AV has little confidence in him, seen in his repeated healthy scratches.
Rick Nash, Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, Marty St. Louis Carl Hagelin, Kevin Hayes, JT Miller Tanner Glass, Dominic Moore, Lee Stempniak
Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi Marc Staal and Kevin Klein Matt Hunwick and Dan Boyle