New York Rangers Injury Report
@AGrossRecord Do you believe Girardi is really healthy enough to play but #Rangers using injury as excuse not to play him? I do #NYR
— I (@YDKlay11) April 19, 2016
It looks like the New York Rangers will be without Dan Girardi yet again in Game 4. Vigneault has been shy to broadcast his starting lineups through the first three games of this series, but he did shed some light on Girardi’s injury. By “shed some light,” I mean all he did was confirm that Dan will not play in Game 4 due to a “super top-secret”/ “whole body” injury.
Yeah, your guess is as good as mine.
On the other hand, Viktor Stalberg, who spent three hours at the dentists office on Wednesday, participated in today’s optional morning skate and is good to go tonight.
There is actually a new development in the Stalberg vs Letang case, Kris Letang claims that after he chopped at Stalberg’s mouth during Tuesday night’s game, he skated over to the New York Rangers bench. It was at that point Letang says he apologized to Stalberg, claiming it was just an accident. Well, after today’s morning skate, the media asked Stalberg if this was true,
"“No, that’s not (true),” Stalberg said. “I haven’t heard anything from him and honestly I couldn’t care less if he did or not. That’s part of the game. That’s part of the playoffs. We’re not looking to focus on this. I think it’s about we’ve got to be better here together as a group tonight.”"
Next: New York Rangers Left Frustrated After Pens Dirty Hit
Interesting. In my opinion, Vigneault should send the bruisers out to take the opening puck drop tonight and maybe, if we are lucky, there will be a moment reminiscent of a certain Rangers vs Devils game.
I doubt that this will happen, but I can dream.
We also heard Vigneault touch on Ryan McDonagh this morning. The New York Rangers captain did not skate with the team during yesterdays optional practice, or todays optional morning skate, but AV has reassured us, stating that McDonagh will be starting tonight for the Blueshirts.
The Rangers head coach also mentioned possible changes to the lineup. AV seemed open to the idea of starting younger players tonight, which means we could see a shuffling of Forwards and Defenseman. Oscar Lindberg or Marek Hrivik are both healthy and may now get some time at the Forward position, while we could also see Dylan McIlrath, or Raphael Diaz fill in for Girardi.
Penguins Injury Update
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It has been made public by Penguins head coach, Mike Sullivan, that the rookie goaltender, Matt Murray, will start between the pipes for Game 4. We also learned Marc-Andre Fleury has not skated at all this week and is still “going through the process.”
Eric Staal let the media know what he feels the New York Rangers should do in order to beat Murray and the Penguins,
"“We have to work harder to find ways to get more on the inside against them.” Staal went on to say, “Getting to the net is a big key for us tonight.”"
None of this will be possible if the Rangers recent struggle to maintain the offensive zone continues. They need to attack the rookie goaltender early and often. Tuesday night, the Rangers attacked the Penguins and Murray early, but were unable to generate much more after Nash’s breakaway goal that put the Blueshirts up 1-0.
Game 4 is just a few hours from starting and the New York Rangers need to leave MSG with a win, or die trying. Going down 3-1 against this Penguins team and traveling back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 will make the rest of their postseason plans nearly impossible.