Ryan McDonagh (hand) will not be available when the Rangers begin their first round series with the Penguins on Wednesday, head coach Alain Vigneault said. McDonagh, who was wearing a non-contact jersey, skated early on Monday but never gripped the stick with his right hand. He exited the ice before practice began. Dan Girardi, who skated before practice on Monday while wearing a contact jersey, will practice on Tuesday and be available for Game 1 against the Penguins if all goes well, Vigneault said,. Eric Staal, Mats Zuccarello, and Viktor Stalberg all participated during the Rangers' practice on Monday.
We'll see on MAF. And I would expect Malkin to miss at least the first 4 games or so...maybe the whole series.
Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and defenseman Olli Maatta each participated in practice today at the team's workout facility in Cranberry. But their status for Game 1 of the Penguins’ first-round playoff series with the New York Rangers is unknown. Coach Mike Sullivan was brief on any health updates and simply said most injured players were “day to day.” Fleury has missed the past five games because of a concussion, his second of the season. Fleury rotated in and out of drills along with fellow goaltenders Jeff Zatkoff and Tristan Jarry. “One day at a time,” Fleury said. “This was my first practice, so we'll see how it goes." Maatta has not played since suffering an undisclosed injury March 24. He primarily practiced on a “fourth” defensive pairing with Derrick Pouliot. “I felt good out there,” Maatta said. “It was the first practice with the team. I had no problems. We'll see how it goes.” Goaltender Matt Murray (undisclosed), center Evgeni Malkin (undisclosed) and right wingers Bryan Rust (undisclosed) and Beau Bennett (right shoulder) each skipped practice. Murray was injured during Saturday's regular season finale in Philadelphia when he was struck in the head by Flyers left winger Brayden Schenn. Malkin has been sidelined since March 11 due to a suspected left wrist or hand injury. Rust has missed the past six games, while Bennett's recurring injury sidelined him for the final two games of the regular season.
If Hank & team continue to give up 3 or more goals a game, series will be short. Special teams needs a revamping. I do not feel good with our best +/- D man out. I do love the #LGR!
Day to day is better than week to week: On McDonagh, Vigneault said that he is day to day (NYR) and "definitely" not going to start the series. (Ranger Rants)
On ESPN, 7 guys picked the Pens and 3 picked the Rangers (Melrose, Grant, and Cohn...all in 6). 4 of the 7 picked the Pens in 7 games. Everyone picked the Caps and Panthers. 7 picked TB and 3 Detroit. In the West, everyone picked the Ducks and Stars. 7 picked the Hawks and Kings.
You always want to win game 1, but to me come home 1-1 and I'm good. I don't care of it's game 1 or game 2...just need a win in Pitt. Come home down 2-0 and the odds we win the series are very small. That's what historical %'s say.
Rangers basically have nothing going for them this season other than nobody expects anything out of them because they have been bumbling idiots almost all year defensively and on the PK. So, they have no pressure this season. Pitt might get tight if they can't score early in the series.
Finally the games mean something! Can't wait for 8pm Wednesday night! First round guesses: Flyers over Caps Pens over Rangers Det over TB Fla over NYI Ducks over Preds Kings over Sharks Stars over Wild Hawks over Blues I am sure I've picked enough wrong to not have to bother trying to guess how many games in each series.
Everyone loves the Pens. Can't say they are totally nuts, but most think the Pens/Caps winner is the team in the East. We are a huge underdog, and that's okay with me. Use that for some motivation is what I say. Truth is unless we score like crazy, which isn't our MO ever in the playoffs, we will need to play D like we haven't done all season really. Can we essentially do a 180 on D back to the past couple of seasons...if not we cannot win this series IMO. And I would throw our PK in there as well. We have to kill penalties like we have the past couple of seasons to have a shot. I think we can do it, a lot of the same players here outside of Hags and McD for the first couple of games, but will we do it this season...don't know. I remain hopeful...
Both Dan Girardi and Henrik Lundqvist are on the ice at Rangers practice today. (Cyrgalis) Dylan McIlrath and Oscar Lindberg are skating as scratches. (Gross) The lines the Rangers are using at practice today are (Cyrgalis): JT Miller, Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, Rick Nash Eric Staal, Kevin Hayes, Jesper Fast Tanner Glass, Dominic Moore, Viktor Stalberg Keith Yandle and Kevin Klein, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi, Brady Skjei and Dan Boyle.
I figured Skjei would get the call over McIlrath. Same lines as the last couple of games, so no change there. I would expect the Stepan line against the Crosby line. Interesting they went Yandle/Klein and Staal/Girardi as the top two pairs. I would try and have Staal/G against the Crosby line AND Yandle/Klein against the speedy Hags/Kessel line.
If we get the MAF of the last couple playoffs its going to be tough. I am not convinced we will. That guy could be horrible, it wasn't that long ago after terrible playoffs they were wondering if he would be a buyout candidate
