The Rangers will receive a significant boost to their lineup tonight when they face the Blues in St. Louis. Both Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal will return to action, it was confirmed following the team's morning skate at Scottrade Center.
However the Rangers may have to go with seven defensemen and 11 forwards because rookie right wing Marek Hrivik is ill and may not be ale to play this evening. Hrivik did not take part in the morning skate, though head coach Alain Vigneault did say "I think (Hrivik) will play tonight."
Should Hrivik not be able to play, rookie defenseman Dylan McIlrath would see some shifts up front on the fourth line, according to Vigneault. If Hrivik is able to play, then McIlrath will be a healthy scratch this evening. The club is currently only carrying 12 healthy forwards on the roster because Rick Nash remains out of the lineup with a bad bone bruise in his leg.
Staal told reporters that he left Monday's practice early because "things locked up" in his lower back and then "needed a couple days to settle down". He missed Tuesday's game against the Devils as a result.
"It felt a lot better this morning so I should be good to go tonight," said Staal.
McDonagh--who missed the last two games with a sore jaw and neck--was receiving treatment and unavailable to speak with reporters after the morning skate, but he, like Staal, took part in every drill and seemed without issue out on the ice. He also practiced on one of the power play units alongside Dan Boyle at the point, with J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast up front.
The other power play unit saw Keith Yandle, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello.
Henrik Lundqvist starts in goal for the Rangers, and the Blues will counter with Jake Allen, who has just returned from a knee injury and will need to play a lot moving forward since St. Louis' other netminder, Brian Elliott, is out four weeks with a lower body injury of his own.
Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock joked this morning that he plans to play Allen "as long as he remains upright" in the coming weeks.
Tonight's game will be a stiff test for the Rangers, who are coming off Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Devils in New Jersey.
"We gave up a lot of two-on-ones and breakaways (Tuesday), and it was just too wide open for how we like to play," observed Staal. "We're going to try and get back on track tonight and play the way we know how to win."
Jim Cerny
BlueshirtsUnited.com
BlueshirtsUnited.com
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