Dan Carcillo will remain in the Rangers’ lineup for Friday night’s match at the Garden against Dallas, thus bumping J.T. Miller to street clothes for the second consecutive game.
“We had a real strong game in Chicago against a team I know really well, and other than that flurry in the last minute against Hank [Henrik Lundqvist], we played really good both ways,” Alain Vigneault said in explaining why he was keeping the lineup intact from Wednesday’s 3-2 victory in Chicago.
“I liked what Dan brought with his physicality,” said the coach. “He didn’t play a lot but when he did, he played well.”
Carcillo got nine shifts for 7:15 on the fourth line with Dominic Moore and Brian Boyle in his Rangers debut. The winger played one 42-second shift in the third and did not get on the ice for the final 13:17.
Miller, meanwhile, had played an important role as the third-line center in the Rangers’ revival (6-2-1 in the last nine) that commenced just before the Christmas break. But he has now been scratched three times in the last five matches, coinciding with Ryan Callahan’s return from IR on Jan. 3 and the acquisition of Carcillo on Jan. 4, which followed by 24 hours the broken leg sustained in Pittsburgh by Derek Dorsett.
It is not in either Miller’s or the organization’s long-term interest to keep the 20-year-old in New York as a spare or even as a fourth-liner, which is what he was in the two games he played between Callahan’s return and Carcillo’s insertion into the lineup.
The Rangers have just one extra forward on the active roster, but may not need even that given that Friday’s match was the first of stretch in which the club has 12 of the next 13 games at either the Garden or Yankee Stadium.
Thus, if Miller isn’t going to get the chance to play in New York in a top-nine role, he and the team are better served if he plays on the AHL Wolf Pack’s top line.
Michael Del Zotto, meanwhile, was to remain in on defense for the fourth straight match following a pair of consecutive scratches while Justin Falk sat for the sixth straight.
Del Zotto, who is likely being showcased for a trade, played 14:36 in Chicago on a third pair with John Moore after getting 17:38 and 15:55 in the two games before that, and received only four shifts for 3:55 in the third period against the Blackhawks.
“I think Michael is coming offensively with his ability to find the seam on his passes and generate opportunities,” Vigneault said. “Defensively the last couple of games he has been able tighten up.
“He’s had issues there for quite a few games,” the coach said. “That pair is generally on against the other teams’ third and fourth lines, so they have to be on the plus-side of chances.”
Shot attempts don’t necessarily equate to chances, but Del Zotto had been on for 16 Rangers attempts vs. 27 opponent attempts the last two games after a 30/8 night in Toronto on Saturday, according to date supplied by extraskater.com.
Henrik Lundqvist was set to be in nets against the Stars, marking his sixth start in the last seven games. The King is 3-1-1 with a 2.71 GAA and .908 save pct. in this stretch that began Dec. 29. Lundqvist has faced 37 or more shots in three of his last five games after facing that many in three of his first 27 starts.