With the Rangers offensive malaise seemingly hanging over them like a cloud, it’s only natural that now come the trade rumors.
Coach Alain Vigneault said he thinks he has enough firepower here to right now to get the job done.
“I think we need to get the pieces that we have here to play better,” Vigneault said before his offense broke out in the Rangers’ 5-1 win over the Penguins Wednesday night at the Garden.
On Monday at the Garden, the Oilers dispatched a handful of people to watch the 2-1 loss to the Ducks, including general manager Craig MacTavish and director of hockey operations Kevin Lowe, both of whom were in the building again on Wednesday. So the talk of Edmonton dangling 2012 No. 1-overall pick Nail Yakupov, as well as veteran winger Ales Hemsky, was only natural.
Though Vigneault was asked directly about the trade rumors and the need for more offense, the coach went off into a discussion about getting more scoring from his defensemen.
He then got a goal later in the night from blueliner Ryan McDonagh, and his low-scoring team got five goals for just the second time this season.
“I think these guys have the potential to do it on a more consistent basis,” Vigneault said. “If they do it, we’re going to score more goals.”
Penguins star Sidney Crosby has reached out to Rick Nash, the Rangers winger who has been out since Oct. 8 with a concussion. Crosby had his own history with head injuries, playing just eight games between Jan. 5, 2011 to March 15, 2012 because of lingering post-concussion symptoms.
Crosby sent Nash a text message, having known him from their time playing for the Canadian Olympic team in 2010. He told reporters on Wednesday morning the dissimilarities between each concussion, “can definitely make it a tough thing to go through.
“You just don’t have a lot of answers,” Crosby said. “It’s a unique injury. It’s frustrating.”
The team officially said there was “nothing” in terms of an update on Nash.
It’s looking like enigmatic 20-year-old forward J.T. Miller might be bound for AHL Hartford sooner rather than later.
With a make-or-break game on Wednesday, he got just seven shifts through the first two periods. He added some shifts in third-period garbage time when the Rangers already had the game in hand, and finished with 8:43.
“I take every game as if it’s my last,” Miller said Wednesday morning. “You have to be consistent to stay here.”
Fourth-line center Dominic Moore (oblique strain) resumed skating, but is still likely out “a week to 10 days,” according to Vigneault. Moore sustained the injury on a first-period faceoff against the Islanders on Oct. 29, and has now missed four straight games.