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Game 74: NYR-TOR, Kreider, Fast and Staal all dealing with injuries

March 22, 2019, 7:20 AM ET [107 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday. A struggling Toronto team picked up a much needed win Wednesday night while New York fell to Detroit when they last played Tuesday. With nine games remaining, the focus is still on the development of the young players and ping-pong balls.

Injury updates and lines:






Fast played through his injury for weeks, and if this will linger the rest of the way, he most certainly should be shut down. Kreider played through a hamstring injury and finally looked to be healthy, but now could also be shut down due to this ailment. Staal has played 72 of a possible 73 games, so if he is sidelined that would be a rare occurrence.

Due to the injuries, the new lines are:
Lemieux-Zibanejad-Buchnevich
Namestnikov-Chytil-Lettieri
Vesey-Andersson-Strome
Nieves-Howden-Smith

Chytil, after missing a few days with the flu, played center Tuesday. That was the first time he lined up in the middle since Nov. 12, the 18th game of the season, against Vancouver, when he was the fourth-line center, playing between Cody McLeod and Vinni Lettieri. Chytil showed his creative side in the loss, setting up others while taking four shots on net. He should remain at center the final nine games of the season.

Andersson, with one goal in 33 games, needs to show a lot more down the stretch. He has yet to take any sort of step forward. He is still young and I still believe he can be a solid third center, but that maybe Howden's role in the future. If that is the case, Andersson might end up as the fourth center or shifting to wing, which isn't the best look for the seventh overall pick. I am far from writing him off but want to see some signs of growth. Connor Brickley will be the healthy scratch.

D pairs:

Claesson-DeAngelo
Skjei-Shattenkirk
Gilmour-Pionk

Gilmour-Pionk played together Tuesday. With Staal out, Claesson moves up to play with ADA, which should allow DeAngelo room to roam offensively. I am interested in seeing Skjei-Shattenkirk to see if their two styles can mesh. This duo played at times in the past with some success.

David Quinn Post-Practice:



I wrote the below paragraph earlier. As I said, I will note the results of each of the final 10 games here and if New York’s place in the standings has changed.

March 19 – Detroit 3 New York 2. Still sixth. Tied with Anaheim, one game in hand. Edmonton lost, so no change
march 20 - Sabres lost (Buffalo has two more points than New York), Ducks lost (team has same number of points as Rangers but New York has two games in hand)
March 21 - Oilers won, so they are four points north of NY with the Rangers having a game in hand

If the Rangers continue to struggle, they could may slide down one more slots, below Anaheim, as they are tied with them in points but the Blueshirts have two games in hand. In addition, Edmonton and Buffalo have two more points than New York and have played the same number of games while Vancouver is three points north of the Rangers, who have one game in hand. New York faces Detroit, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Boston, St. Louis, Philly, New Jersey, Ottawa, Columbus and Pittsburgh down the stretch.


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