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With Igor Shesterkin still on hand with a groin injury and Alexandar Georgiev fresh off his third mid-game bench of the season, Keith Kinkaid was selected as a starter for the Rangers game in Boston on Saturday afternoon. .
This will be Kinkaid’s second departure from his Ranger tenure since he was called up from the taxi team earlier this month, shortly after Shesterkin suffered what has been described as a “mild strain.” In the groin in a March 4 victory over the Devils.
Saturday will mark the fifth straight game for which Shesterkin has not been available, adding to speculation that his injury was not actually “light.”
“It’s a really nagging situation,” head coach David Quinn said of Shesterkin’s injury on Friday. “We don’t think it’s a long-term thing. It just runs a little longer than we thought. But you might wake up tomorrow and be in a good position and play sooner or later, so it’s really day to day.
Kinkaid, who signed a two-year, $ 1.65 million contract with the Rangers as a free agent in October, has made three net appearances so far this season – including two for Georgiev.
In 42:46 of time on the ice in Rangers’ 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh last week, Kinkaid kept the team competitive and stopped 16 of 18 shots he faced. He made his first start as a Ranger in the next game against the Penguins, but a defensive breakdown led to a 4-2 loss despite Kinkaid’s 23-save performance.
Georgiev scored four goals on 14 shots in Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Bruins, prompting Quinn to deploy Kinkaid. The 31-year-old, in his eighth NHL season, dismissed all 13 shots he faced in relief.
In an attempt to generate any sort of offense in Thursday’s shutout loss, Quinn rallied Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko on what he called “the children’s line.”
The trio, with a median age of 20, recorded just 5:12 of ice time together and generated three shots. When asked if this was a line he was considering keeping together, Quinn replied that there were things he liked about it.
“There were some good signs as the game went on and they got a little more familiar,” he said. “So that’s something we’re definitely going to experiment with going forward.”
The Bruins’ Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak trio are described as “The Perfection Line” for a reason, and it was on full display Thursday against the Rangers.
With two goals, five shots and four hits – including three assists from Marchand alone – the Bruins’ front row has made its way with the Rangers.
“There is no question that they are one of the best lines in the league,” said Ryan Strome. “I think you just see the chemistry they have, I think sometimes it doesn’t seem like they’re creating too much so boom. They just have great opportunities. It’s definitely a challenge for us, I think we’ve done a really good job against them this year. It’s going to be pretty hard to stop them all together.
“I think it’s kind of a trend that they’ve set for the season. … I think we just need to focus a little more on the details, I just think to be more aware of where they are, to talk more in a group.
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