Rangers' Ryan Lindgren a surprise scratch due to upper-body injury
Rangers' Ryan Lindgren looks on at training camp on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. Credit: Corey Sipkin
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Coach Peter Laviolette said at the Rangers’ morning skate Saturday that, while he was willing to divulge his starting goaltender against the Columbus Blue Jackets — Igor Shesterkin — he didn’t want to say whether he would make any changes to the lineup from the squad that had played on Opening Night on Thursday in Buffalo.
It turned out Laviolette made two changes from Thursday — one planned and one because of injury.
First-pair defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who took part in the optional morning skate, was a surprise scratch in the Rangers’ 5-3 loss to the Blue Jackets. He has an upper-body injury, the Rangers said.
The other change was forward Jimmy Vesey, who entered the lineup to make his season debut. He replaced Tyler Pitlick.
Lindgren played 19:50 in the 5-1 win over the Sabres on Thursday and was credited with blocking two shots. Laviolette shuffled his defense, elevating Erik Gustafsson from the third pair to partner with Adam Fox and inserting Zac Jones, who replaced Lindgren in the lineup, on the third pair alongside Braden Schneider.
Laviolette, who said Lindgren is day-to-day and will be examined in New York, refused to use the defenseman’s absence as a reason for the Rangers’ defensive struggles in the game.
“That would be an excuse,’’ he said. “I mean, I liked the lineup we had dressed tonight.’’
Lafreniere takes faceoffs
At their short practice in Columbus on Friday, one of the things the Rangers worked on was faceoffs. Alexis Lafreniere, who went 4-for-5 on faceoffs in Thursday’s win, was in the group working with assistant coach Michael Peca.
Is Lafreniere, a left wing trying to convert to right wing this season, a faceoff man now?
“I took a couple last year, actually,’’ said Lafreniere, who won 28 of 76 (36.8%) last season. “It’s just, for me, trying to be strong and try to win it. It’s not really [about] technique right now that much. Just try to get down and get low, get strong and try to win.
“It’s always good to win faceoffs because you start your shift with possession, and you can make plays then instead of chasing, so yeah, it was good.
“It was one game though,’’ he said. “So we’ll see how it goes next game.’’
Lafreniere was needed to take faceoffs because his centerman, Filip Chytil, who missed 11 days in training camp with an upper-body injury, did not take them. Lafreniere went 3-for-10 Saturday.
Vesey in, Pitlick out
Vesey took Pitlick’s spot on the right wing of the fourth line with center Nick Bonino and left wing Barclay Goodrow.
“Nobody had played poorly to come out of the lineup,’’ Laviolette said. “I just didn’t want anybody sitting for long stretches for no reason.’’
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.
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