With all forwards healthy, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant has some decisions to make
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant speaks in Tarrytown on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. Credit: Errol Anderson
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Four games into their season, it appears the Rangers are about to be fully healthy for the first time. And with that, coach Gerard Gallant needs to make some decisions.
Twenty-one of the 23 players on the roster practiced fully on Tuesday, with captain Jacob Trouba and alternate captain Chris Kreider being absent for what the Rangers called “maintenance.’’ And Gallant insisted both Trouba and Kreider are fine and will be at practice on Wednesday.
Fourth-line center Ryan Carpenter was among those who practiced Tuesday, after missing Monday’s 6-4 win over Anaheim due to a cut behind his left ear suffered in Friday’s game in Winnipeg against the Jets. Winger Vitali Kravtsov, who also didn’t play Monday, and who did not go on the two-game trip to Minnesota and Winnipeg last week because of an upper-body injury, also practiced, this time wearing a regular-color jersey, as opposed to the yellow non-contact jersey he wore at Sunday’s practice.
“They're cleared to come back as long as everything progresses again tomorrow,’’ Gallant said of the pair. “They'll be available.’’
So, with a full complement of 14 forwards available for Thursday’s game at Madison Square Garden against the San Jose Sharks, coached by former Ranger coach David Quinn, Gallant will have to scratch two healthy forwards for the first time this season.
“I’ve got to look at our lineup and [I’ll] worry about that tomorrow,’’ the coach said. “But no, it's a good thing that everybody's coming back and getting ready to go again.’’
Winger Sammy Blais missed the first three games of the season with an upper-body injury, and Kravtsov was injured in the season opener and missed the next three games. When Blais was ready to return for Monday’s game, he took Carpenter’s spot in the lineup.
Judging by the lines at practice Tuesday, Barclay Goodrow, who had centered the fourth line Monday with Carpenter out, will be moving back to the third line, with Blais and Filip Chytil. That would indicate Carpenter likely will return to center the fourth line. At Tuesday’s practice, four players — Carpenter, Dryden Hunt, Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Reaves — rotated through the three spots on the fourth line, and Kravtsov skated in Kreider’s spot on the top line, with Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko.
Since Kreider will return to his regular spot for Thursday’s game, Kravtsov will have to go somewhere else.
It likely won’t be on the second line, where he started training camp and started the season opener. Gallant moved Alexis Lafrenière onto that line when Kravtsov got hurt, and the coach said he is happy with how well Lafrenière has played there with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck.
“He's playing good hockey,’’ Gallant said of Lafrenière. “I'm really happy with the way he is.’’
And, Gallant admitted, given that the Rangers have won three of their four games and they led the league in goals scored with 17 before Tuesday’s games, he doesn’t anticipate making “any drastic changes.’’
“It's an obvious thing,’’ Gallant said. “It's early in the year, we're 3-1, we're playing pretty good hockey overall. And, you know, I'm not going to mess with things that are working.’’
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.
