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Before Wednesday night, the Rangers had lost just one player on the COVID protocol roster, when Kaapo Kakko missed the February 1 game against the Penguins with what turned out to be a false positive test.
Kakko returned to the roster on Saturday when he was sidelined for the Blueshirts contest in Washington and stayed there for Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia. That wasn’t all, however, as the Blueshirts also placed K’Andre Miller on the roster in the hours leading up to the 4-3 loss to the Flyers.
It is not known if Miller, who was replaced in the roster by Jack Johnson, tested positive. It is also unclear whether the Rangers could be vulnerable to an outbreak as a result of these situations, which occurred five days apart.
Johnson, a scratch for Saturday’s win over the Capitals, contested the Rangers 3-2 shootout victory in Philadelphia last Thursday after missing the previous eight games with a groin injury. He had participated in only one training before joining the roster.
Mika Zibanejad played perhaps his most dynamic game of the year, collecting two assists in 20:20 of ice time, but was denied two shorthanded breakaways, the second with 3:40 to go and the Blueshirts lost 4-3. Zibanejad was also denied earlier, at 5:45 am from the end of the first period, when the puck rolled over him.
Both times he went to reverse. Both times Brian Elliott was up to the task. He was asked if he thought he could have scored if he had had a normal season, not this one in which he scored two goals, including one dropped into an empty net.
“I don’t know. I made the movement I usually do, he read it, he didn’t come in,” Zibanejad said. “So I don’t know. That’s a tough question to answer “It just leads to more speculation. I’m just trying to keep things as simple as possible and not overthink these odds.”
The pair of assists doubled the center’s season total to four.
The Blueshirts have returned 39 shots on goal, the most they have allowed this season.
The Rangers, 2 for 5 on the power play, have now scored in three straight games with the man advantage (4 for 15) after wearing a 0 for 14 in the previous five games.
With Miller absent, Kakko, Jacob Trouba (thumb) and Artemi Panarin (leave), Brendan Smith and Anthony Bitetto were on point in the second unit on the power play. The Blueshirts have scored 10 power play goals, with the first unit for nine of them.
Rangers have won just 20 of 55 faceoffs (36%), with Zibanejad winning just two of 14 draws.
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