Rangers' Jack Roslovic should be back in uniform for game vs. Islanders on Tuesday
Jack Roslovic, left, of the New York Rangers celebrate his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins with teammate Zac Jones at Madison Square Garden last Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH — From the look of things at practice Monday, forward Jack Roslovic, a surprise scratch from the lineup for Sunday’s 5-2 win over Montreal, appears as if he will be back in uniform for the Rangers when they visit the Islanders at UBS Arena on Tuesday night.
Roslovic was working with his regular linemates, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, during most drills. Jimmy Vesey, who skated in Roslovic’s spot Sunday, was back working with his linemates from Friday’s game in Detroit, Barclay Goodrow and Jonny Brodzinski.
If Roslovic does return to the lineup, it will restore the nominal first line against the Rangers’ chief rivals. But it wouldn’t answer the question of why the 27-year-old was left out of the lineup in the first place.
Coach Peter Laviolette suggested Sunday that sitting out Roslovic was nothing more than trying to rotate forwards in and out of the lineup to keep everyone playing and staying sharp. He stuck with that theme Monday.
“I can only dress 18 skaters,’’ Laviolette said. “I have to take guys out of the lineup. And the people I inserted in the lineup, I thought they played a pretty good game last night. The lineup may be different tomorrow. And if it is, it won’t be because of anything that anybody did. We’ve just got to get through this.’’
But as generous as Laviolette has been in sharing his thinking with reporters, it’s hard to believe he would scratch Roslovic because of some numbers- crunch roster rotation.
When Roslovic was asked about it, he sounded more like a player who had been chastened by the decision and is determined to step up his play as soon as he gets back in the lineup.
“You never want to [be scratched]. You always want to be in there with the team,’’ he said. “So just get better. Learn from it.’’
Asked if sitting out would have him amped up for his return, he said: “You definitely get a little bit more motivated . . . It’s good accountability.’’
Roslovic has showed he has the speed to play with Zibanejad and Kreider, and the trio has generated scoring opportunities. But in 15 games with them, Roslovic has two goals and five assists. Not bad, but not exactly tearing up the league, either.
On Friday in Detroit, he was benched for a good part of the first period in the 4-3 win over the Red Wings after he failed to control a puck in the Rangers’ slot and it bounced off his skate and went to Andrew Copp, who scored to tie it at 1. Roslovic played a team-low 8 minutes, 7 seconds in that game, then didn’t play in the next game.
That sounds a lot more like a player being sent a message to pick up his play than one who’d simply lost his spot in a game of musical chairs.
Blue lines
Artemi Panarin was the NHL’s third star of the week with two goals and eight points in four games last week. Nikita Kucherov, the league’s leading scorer, who had one goal and nine assists in four games for Tampa Bay, was named first star and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (five goals, one assist in four games) was second star.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
