Dominic Moore returned to the Rangers’ lineup Sunday night against the Bruins a day after having sat as a healthy scratch in Philadelphia, but the move was less an endorsement of the center than a reflection of coach Alain Vigneault’s belief Derek Dorsett wasn’t quite ready to go in back-to-back games.
Dorsett played 8:42 of largely ineffectual hockey in Saturday’s 4-2 defeat by the Flyers after having been sidelined since Jan. 3 with a broken left fibula he sustained blocking a shot by the Penguins’ Olli Maatta.
“His conditioning is pretty close, but Dorse needs to practice a little more and work on his timing,” Vigneault said before the Rangers’ 6-3 loss to Boston. “He’s been out seven weeks, so it’s going to take a little time.”
Moore was scratched for only the second time on Saturday while Vigneault constructed a fourth line of Dorsett and Daniel Carcillo flanking Brian Boyle. Moore returned to center against the Bruins with Boyle and Carcillo on the wings and got 11:48 of ice while going 4-for-8 at the faceoff dots.
Vigneault switched up his pairs on defense the first two periods, moving Kevin Klein up to Marc Staal’s right while dropping Anton Stralman down to the third pair with John Moore. The coach had made that move intermittently during the game in Philadelphia.
The Blueshirts juggled things in the third, using various combinations, with Dan Girardi getting only 5:24 of ice in the third, the least of the six defensemen.
“I thought Anton had a few challenging moments,” Vigneault said of the match against the Flyers. “I think for the most part he has played very well with Marc, so hopefully he will get back to being the dependable player we’ve seen this year.”
The Rangers did not yield a single power play to the Bruins, while going 1-for-4 on their own man-advantages. It marked the first time this season the Rangers were not short-handed.
Henrik Lundqvist, who had gone 15 straight starts since Jan. 3 without allowing more than three goals before surrendering four to the Flyers, has allowed four or more in consecutive games for the first time since 4-1 and 4-2 defeats to the Predators and Blue Jackets, respectively, on Dec. 10 and Dec. 12.