The New York Rangers take on the Islanders in their preseason finale tonight and the Blueshirts lineup should reflect the team that will take the ice on Wednesday in the season opener in Washington. The only sure change will be in goal as Alexandar Georgiev gets the start versus the Islanders while Igor Shesterkin will start against the Capitals.
The lineup got closer to its final version with defenseman Zac Jones sent to Hartford. That means that Nils Lundkvist has won a starting job, playing alongside Patrik Nemeth on the third pair.
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Gallant called it a “tough decision” and said “Jonesy has done nothing wrong. He’s played well, it’s all about numbers and how many guys you can keep on your roster.”
With that resolved, there are very few decisions to be made by the coach.
Injuries are a factor
Ryan Reaves’ injury isn’t as severe as first thought and Gallant said that he is “day-to-day.” Even Gallant admitted that when the injury occurred it look pretty bad. “It didn’t look good, but I think it’s going to be a lot quicker than that so it’s day-to-day for us.” Still, the question is whether he will be available on opening night, also know as the “Tom Wilson Round 3” game.
Gallant wouldn’t commit saying, “I think it’s gonna be close. When he left the game, I said no, but the last couple of days it’s going in the right direction. I can’t really say, but I think it’s going to be close.”
Another question is whether Vitali Kravtsov will play tonight. He has been practicing, but if he is unable to play, it will present yet another opportunity for Julien Gauthier who had another good game on Wednesday.
Gallant said that they will be careful with the lineup since they don’t want to risk injury. He said that there are some players who may be held out. He said “A couple key guys might not be playing, I’m not sure yet. You want to be careful,but you want to be ready too, it’s that fine line.”
Who’s left
24 players took part in practice on Friday with only Ryan Reaves not skating. If the Rangers carry the maxium 23 players when the season starts, they will have to send two players to Hartford. The candidates are forwards Julien Gauthier, Morgan Barron or Dryden Hunt while the defensemen are Libor Hajek and Jarred Tinordi.
All except Barron have to clear waivers in order to be sent down so he is the obvious candidate to go to the Wolf Pack. With the injury to Reaves, Gallant may keep Jarred Tinordi with the big club to provide some muscle when needed. Tinordi had his best preseason game on Wednesday, skating with Nils Lundkvist. If Tinordi sticks, they will have to expose Gauthier, Hunt or Hajek to waivers.
We have to see who will be in the lineup tonight. With Reaves definitely out, it presents an opportunity for at least one of the three forwards on the cusp. If any of the three are not in the lineup it may mean that Gallant has made up his mind, as he obviously did in the choice between Lundkvist and Jones.
No captain yet
The Rangers haven’t had a captain since they traded Ryan McDonagh in 2018, but Gallant promised there will be one before opening night. When asked about it, he stayed with his standard response the he relies on the whole team.
“We’ll get to a decision sooner or later…the biggest thing for me is I need 23 guys to be leaders. I’ve had that in the past with some teams I’ve coached, that’s the biggest thing to me. We’ll make our decision in the near future…before game one for sure.”
Gallant keeps saying that he has been discussing it with Chris Drury. While Gallant hasn’t said that the team doesn’t need a captain, he has continuously maintained it’s the team, not any individual player that is important. It sure sounds like it’s Chris Drury who is driving the captaincy conversation. As a former Rangers captain, it’s Drury who sees the need and value that a captain brings.
The game
The Rangers play the Islanders at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the home of the Islanders AHL farm team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The game starts at 7pm and will be televised on MSG Plus and nationally on the NHL Network.
Be warned, it’s being treated as an Islanders’ home game so their broadcast crew will be used so prepare for an evening of Brendan Burke and Butch Goring.
The Islanders last game against the Devils was cancelled due to a power outage at the Newark Arena. Here are the Islanders who were supposed to play (they seem to be one over the 21 player limit). It probably means that like the Rangers, the Isles will be fielding the lineup that will open the season next Thursday in Carolina. With this being the final preseason game for the Islanders as well, we might see Zach Parise who has played in only one game so far.
Forwards:
13 – Mathew Barzal
15 – Cal Clutterbuck
16 – Richard Panik
18 – Anthony Beauvillier
21 – Kyle Palmieri
26 – Oliver Wahlstrom
27 – Anders Lee
29 – Brock Nelson
32 – Ross Johnston
43 – Anatolii Golyshev
44 – Jean-Gabriel Pageau
53 – Casey Cizikas
Defensemen:
2 – Thomas Hickey
4 – Andy Greene
6 – Ryan Pulock
8 – Noah Dobson
24 – Scott Mayfield
33 – Zdeno Chara
64 – Erik Gustafsson
Goalies:
30 – Ilya Sorokin
35 – Cory Schneider
The Isles beat the Rangers 4-0 in the first preseason game this season. You may not know this but the Islanders open their season with 13 straight road games as their new arena is not ready yet.
A last word
The Rangers dominated a split New Jersey Devils team on Wednesday. It was an encouraging outing and featured contributions from the usual suspects (Zibanejad and Panarin) and some new faces (Goodrow and Blais).
We will leave you with what Gerard Gallant said about what he is looking for from the team in tonight’s game. “Continue what they did the last game. Continue playing strong hockey and good hockey and get ready for the opener…again, I’m not concerned about the score of the game, I’m concerned about the way we play the game and get prepared to play that game. That’s the last game so hopefully we’ll focus on it and play real well.”
He continued, “If we go out there and have a bad game, am I going to be upset about it? I’m not going to be worried about it, put it that way. I want us to play well and work hard and win the hockey game, but it’s the last exhibition game and you’re hoping for good health…that’s a big part of it too.”