New York Rangers look to avoid Wild game at the Garden
The New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild will be in action tonight at The World’s Most Famous Arena. It will also mark the return for Ryan Reaves, who was traded by Blueshirts to the Wild on November 23 for a 2025 fifth-round pick after a little over a season on Broadway.
On Monday, head coach Gerard Gallant was asked about the man affectionately known as Reavo.
“I hope he doesn’t play well,” Gallant said with a chuckle. “He’s been with me a long time in Vegas and here. He’s a guy I respect and like a lot. Hopefully he plays well and we win by a goal or two.”
Barclay Goodrow, who became very close with Reaves knows his former teammate is not going to hold back when it comes to his usual brand of physical play.
“You have to keep your head up out there since he’s going to be looking for a hit,” Goodrow noted. “Whenever you go back to play a former team, especially for the first time, he’s going to be jacked up. His juices will be flowing, so we’ll try and match that to pick up two points.”
Here’s tonight’s game and broadcast info:
New York Rangers (22-12-7) vs. Minnesota Wild (22-14-3)
Date/Time: January 10, 2023 at 7:00 PM ET
Arena: Madison Square Garden
TV: MSG
Radio: ESPN 98.7
New York Rangers take on Wild
The Blueshirts are coming off a disappointing 4-3 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, where they blew a two-goal lead in the third period.
Despite the upsetting performance, they have now earned points in five straight contests (3-0-2) and are on an 11-2-2 run since the ‘Trouba Helmet Toss’ game (5-2 loss to Chicago at home on Dec 3).
“I feel like we’re a more confident group now than we were, whatever it was, 20 games ago,” Captain Jacob Trouba said. “We’re playing better hockey… I think as a team we’re more confident and playing with more togetherness.”
Per multiple reports from practice, it appears Jonny Brodzinski will get back into the lineup. He’ll play alongside Goodrow and Julien Gauthier with Sammy Blais being a healthy scratch.
Igor Shesterkin should also be back in net for this matchup. His career record against the Wild is 1-1-0, with a GAA of 3.04 and a .914 save percentage.
Jaroslav Halak did not practice with the team due to illness but is expected to be available as the backup.
Wild playing solid hockey
The Wild lost their last game as well, to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in overtime.
They’ll be looking to bounce back and find a way to win more consistently. Since Reaves joined the lineup on November 25, Minnesota is 13-6-1, but their played has dipped going 3-3-1 in the last 7 games.
While there’s a lot of attention on Reaves playing his first game against the Rangers since the trade, Mats Zuccarello is hoping to get back into lineup after missing the last two with a lower-body injury.
If he does suit up, it makes the task of shutting down the Wild much harder. Zuccarello is second on the team in scoring with 40 points in 37 games. His linemate is none other than the Wild’s leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov with 48 points in 39 matches.
Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be in goal and looking to avenge a 7-3 loss to the Rangers earlier in the season. He’s currently 13-8-2 with a GAA of 2.94 and a .901 save percentage.
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