The New York Rangers had their first post-break practice Thursday afternoon with the team preparing to host the Detroit Red Wings Friday night.
Detroit Red Wings 12-35-4
New York Rangers 23-21-4
Venue: MSG
Television: MSG Network
Artemi Panarin was back on the ice with his New York Rangers teammates on Thursday afternoon at the team’s training facility in Tarrytown, NY.
Artemi looks fine. pic.twitter.com/Rh5BhMIVze
— Colin Stephenson (@ColinSNewsday) January 30, 2020
The entire team participated in the first practice held since the NHL All-Star-bye week began last Tuesday.
Vince Z. Mercogliano of Loud.com tweeted the familiar lines used in practice.
Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin – Ryan Strome – Jesper Fast
Brendan Lemieux – Filip Chytil – Kaapo Kakko
Brett Howden – Greg McKegg – Brendan Smith
*Micheal Haley was rotating with the Mckegg line.
The defense pairings were a little different:
Ryan Lindgren – Jacob Trouba
Brady Skjei – Adam Fox
Marc Staal – Anthony DeAngelo
The power-play lines remained the same:
PP1- Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, Strome, and DeAngelo
PP2- Kakko, Buchnevich, Fox, Trouba, and Chytil
At the end of a longer-than-normal practice, both Henrik Lundqvist and Igor Shesterkin left the ice together. Alexandar Georgiev remained on the ice.
After practice, it was announced that Shesterkin would start Friday night at MSG, Lundqvist would get the start at Detroit on Saturday.
Lundqvist going Saturday. Igor tomorrow.
— Colin Stephenson (@ColinSNewsday) January 30, 2020
Strome Leaves Early:
About 45 minutes into the practice, NHL.com Dan Rosen reported that Ryan Strome left practice early. Brett Howden took his place, centering Panarin and Fast.
It turns out he has the flu, but is expected to play tomorrow night.
Ryan Strome left Rangers practice a short time ago. Not sure why yet. He’s not back either and Brett Howden is now skating with Artemi Panarin and Jesper Fast.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) January 30, 2020
This will be the second of three contests against Detroit. The Rangers defeated the Red Wings, 5-1, at MSG on Nov. 6, 2019.
The two teams will play again Saturday night in the back end of a home-and-home series. The Feb. 1 game in Detroit will kick off 15 games in a 29-day marathon for the Blueshirts.
