After missing the last two games with an undisclosed upper body injury, Filip Chytil is set to return to the line-up. Who comes out, remains to be seen, but Barclay Goodrow perhaps gets the night off after taking a stick to the face, or perhaps one of Dryden Hunt or Ryan Reaves.
Alexandar Georgiev will be back in net, and currently has a five game winning streak, with the Rangers particularly finding their offense in games he’s in net. The Rangers lost to the Flyers in their last encounter, losing in a shootout that saw only one player of the six shooters – Kevin Hayes, able to score.
As for players getting breathers, it appears at least tonight, that Gallant will continue to play close to his strongest line-up. As it stands now Julian Gauthier, Greg McKegg and Jonny Brodzinski are the extra forwards, while Libor Hajek and Patrik Nemeth – out for personal reasons, are the extras. The Rangers do still have four call-ups they can use from Hartford, but they may save them until the close of the season to have a look at some of the players going into contract renewals.
Also there was some news today on disgruntled prospect Vitali Kravtsov. Having completed his season in the KHL, the young Russian is reportedly planning to come to New York this Summer, in order to begin preparing for camp. The news is certainly contingent on whether he’s still with the organization come next September, especially given that there is always a higher likelihood of deals being done at the Entry Draft, as well as the lead-up to the free agency period.