New York Rangers head coach David Quinn, unhappy with the team’s effort on Monday night, changed his lineup with Detroit on tap Wednesday night.
New York Rangers -5-6-1, 11 Pts.
Detroit Red Wings– 4-11-1, 9 Pts.
Television: NBCSN, 8:00 p.m.
Venue: Madison Square Garden
The New York Rangers played a flat and uninspired game during Monday’s loss to the Ottawa Senators. As expected, head coach David Quinn will be making some adjustments.
Dan Rosen of NHL.com tweeted that Marc Staal and Greg McKegg will be in Wednesday night’s lineup. Ryan Lindgren and Lias Andersson will be healthy scratches.
The Rangers will have Marc Staal and Greg McKegg back in tonight against Detroit. Ryan Lindgren and Lias Andersson are out. David Quinn said he doesn’t feel good about sitting Lindgren but he wants Staal back in. He said Andersson “had a drop in play” against Ottawa.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) November 6, 2019
The coach’s explanation for the moves was obvious and confusing at the same time. Quinn needs to get Staal back into the lineup, so Lindgren apparently drew the short straw.
The benching of Andersson was due to what the head coach felt was the player suffering a “drop-in-play” during Monday’s game. Andersson played 10:06 minutes against Ottawa with only Micheal Haley seeing less ice time (7:04).
Projected defensive pairings will be:
Trouba-Hajek
Skjei-DeAngelo
Staal-Fox
Quinn was not prepared to announce the line combinations. McKegg will center the fourth line in place of Andersson. He is still undecided as to where he will play Kaapo Kakko. At the conclusion of Monday’s game, Kakko was on a line with Ryan Strome centering and Artemi Panarin on the wing.
Both teams will see some familiar faces playing against one another. Brendan Smith played for the Red Wings before his trade to the Rangers.
Detroit will have a former Ranger in their lineup, defenseman Dylan McIlrath, who was called up on Tuesday.
