Possible Winter Classic Appearance:
1/1/16: 1:50PM: The Leafs are the front runners to host the 2017 Winter Classic and the Rangers are the front runners to play them. (ESPN)
There is a belief though that Toronto has too many big sporting events next year, World Cup and Grey Cup, and they could get a Stadium Series game instead. (ESPN)
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Dan Girardi:
Dan Girardi suffered some swelling in his right knee, which has a crack in the kneecap, and didn't skate yesterday because the trainers thought it would be best for him to have two days off. (NYR)
Girardi should play tomorrow night but might have his knee monitored over the next couple of weeks. (Cyrgalis)
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Alain Vigneault Post Practice Comments 1/1:
Alain Vigneault met with the media in Florida today after Rangers practice (NYR):
On Girardi, "the swelling in his knee came back a little after the last game so we had two full days in-between. Our training staff decided to keep him off today also, thinking that tomorrow he will be as good as he can be at this time of the year. I don't foresee anything unless something drastically changes."
"It's like anything else, with any fracture you are always looking at 4-6 weeks and he has come back prior to that so he has a little pain to endure but after a couple of more weeks we shouldn't hear about this anymore, that is what I am hoping anywhere."
On the next three games being all against first place teams, "no doubt that it should. Florida has been playing extremely well, that top line with Jagr and with Jagr playing the way that he is is just phenomenal. I was able to watch their game against the Habs and that line was as dominant of a line as I have seen so far this year. I know that we have one coming into our building soon with Seguin and his partner there. We will have a real tough matchup against Florida there. Young team that is coming into their own and getting good goaltending from Luongo."
On what people say about Jagr, "At 43 he is, to do what he does and to play at that elite level, at some point you see certain players and the hands go or the legs go and they can't make the plays and they s top but he hasn't stopped. When he is on the ice, trying to get the puck away from him. It's phenomenal what he is doing. It's good for the game."
On playing like they did against Tampa, "I will re-address some of the issues that we addressed with our team that we addressed prior to Tampa. Structure, our one-on-one battle levels with and without the puck were much better in Tampa and that is what I am hoping we see tomorrow night. We are going to be challenged, that team has size and skill and speed. We will be challenged in that department like we were against Tampa and I hope we respond the same way."
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What Henrik Lundqvist said about the Rangers "awful" December and the talks they have been having:
Asked about the Rangers win over Tampa Bay and how important it was, Henrik Lundqvist said "we all needed it, lets be honest, December has been absolutely awful." (MSG)
Lundqvist added, "to finish like this, it's good for us. We had a lot of good talks the last 24 hours about coming back to the team we really are and playing to our strengths."
He continued, "it starts with really hard work and taking care of our own end. When we did that, the offense I think improved a lot, the timing, forecheck but it starts in our own net. We played really well tonight and we showed ourselves what we need to do to have success. we needed it, we looked each other in the eye and talked about the good things and this is what we need from everyone."
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Post Game Reactions from Win in Tampa/Moving forward:
Following the Rangers win over the Lightning on Wednesday, Ryan McDonagh said that the Rangers can't get to "overzealous" with one win and that they need to play the same type of game against the Panthers on Saturday. (MSG)
McDonagh, Marc Staal and Alain Vigneault all said that the Rangers were better defensively and competed harder against Tampa.
Henrik Lundqvist said that the Rangers looked each other in the eyes and talked about what needed to be done. (MSG)
Lundqvist said that how the Rangers played against Tampa is "what we need from everyone." (MSG)
He said that everything the Rangers talked about needing to do better "should just be there" because it's been part of their foundation for "years." (NYR)
Lundqvist said that the Rangers need to take care of their own zone first and that "the way that we started is something that we should look forward to in the next game and the game after that and it should be there every night. I think we will get better results and find our way back to being the team we were at the beginning of the season." (NYR)
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