Zib Set To Return
After a month on the side lines with an undisclosed “upper body” injury, Mika Zibanejad is set to rejoin the team for tomorrow night’s matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes. The Rangers #1 center has missed 13 of the 22 games in the season, but has been practicing with the team in a contact jersey ove the past week or so.
He’s expected to slot in between Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich, as the coach has elected to keep Ryan Strome paired with Artemi Panarin to give the team two scoring lines. By keeping Strome at center, it means Filip Chytil will likely slot to the third line, and Brett Howden back to the fourth. The recently recalled Cristoval Nieves will probably slide to the wing, with Micheal Haley returning to the pressbox.