Matt Gilroy is scheduled to make his first appearance for the Rangers tonight as the Rangers reshuffle their line-up in the absence of the injured (shoulder) Ryan Callahan. Taylor Pyatt will move up onto the second line, Mike Rupp to the third and Stu Bickel will slot in as the fourth line wing for the second time this season.
With Bickel moving up, Gilroy will get his chance to play, and Steve Eminger will be a healthy scratch. The 28 year old native will be making his 128th appearance for the Rangers, but the first since departing as a free agent after the 2010-11 season.
Signed by the Rangers as a UFA out of college, Gilroy initially impressed, before falling out of favor with coach John Tortorella due to his lack of physicality and inconsistent defensive play. Â Having spent last season playing for the Lightning and Senators, he returned to the Rangers under an AHL contract before being signed after the CBA agreement was reached.
Lundqvist Scheduled To Start Again
It’s unlikely that Henrik Lundqvist will play all 48 regular season games for the Rangers this season, but he is yet to sit out one as the Rangers head into their seventh contest. For Lundqvist it’ll be an opportunity to make amends for his worst performance of the year, when he faces the Pittsburgh Penguins for once again.
In the Rangers’ home opener back on January 20th, Lundqvist allowed four goals on eighteen shots before being pulled at the 29:11 mark. The Rangers would go on to lose 6-3 and drop to 0-2 on the season. Following the game, the 30 year old Swede was left with season stats of 4.75 GAA and 0.865 Save Percentage, a far cry from his career averages of 2.28 and 0.920 respectively.
The Rangers and Lundqvist have responded though, and have now gone 3-1-0 in their last four games, with Lundqvist stopping 98 of the 106 shots faced to record a 0.925 Save Percentage and a GAA of 2.01.
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