The assimilation of Alain Vigneault as Rangers coach went so far as to even adjust his pregame music preferences.
In anticipation of the Blueshirts first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals in 20 years, beginning Wednesday in the city of the Western Conference winner, their first-year coach allowed for a small look at how things changed early in his tenure.
“It might sound stupid, it probably is, but I always say for a 7 o’clock game, 6:30 warm-up, at 6 o’clock my teams always shut the music off in the dressing room,” Vigneault said Sunday, in arguably his most jovial press conference as Rangers coach.
“After a couple of exhibition games I had a couple of guys come and see me and say, ‘We’re not used to this here, we usually like to play it a little longer,’ ” Vigneault said. “I said, ‘OK, we’ll go 6:15.’ After I want to say a couple of weeks into the season, I had a couple more guys come and see me and say, ‘Listen, we’d like to play the music until warm-up starts.’ I said, ‘OK, fine. If that’s how you’re going to get in your zone then go ahead and do it.’
“So I think you have to understand where your players are coming from. You figure out what motivates them. Each player has to be handled differently. It takes a little bit of time, and it took me a little bit of time to figure this group out.”
Vigneault said that first guy who came to him about it was Dan Girardi, but added he thought his goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, was behind it.
“I think he was doing it for Hank,” Vigneault said. “Or so he said.”
Backup goalie Cam Talbot was the only regular to miss Sunday’s practice with an undisclosed injury.
“He’s day-to-day,” Vigneault said. “He’s been having issues here, and he’s day-to-day. Hopefully he’ll be on the ice soon. It’s not something I want to discuss.”
If Talbot can’t dress, third-stringer David LeNeveu, having been with the team all postseason, would dress in his place.
Forward J.T. Miller skated by himself after practice, still recovering from what was presumed to be a right-shoulder injury. He was hurt when he was slammed into the goal post by Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin in Game 4, and has not played since.
“I’m under the impression a couple more days here [until he is fully recovered],” Vigneault said.