Rangers Roundup: Georgiev starts, Panarin the wolf, and more
Alexandar Georgiev gets the green light in goal for the New York Rangers as they visit the Islanders on Thursday night.
The 26 year-old has excellent career numbers against the Isles going 7-3-0 in 10 games played. Georgiev has been very good in those contests with a 1.84 GAA and a .939 SV%.
The Blueshirts will also be looking to even the season series after winning the first game on November 24 at UBS Arena 4-1. They’ve dropped the following two games, both at Madison Square Garden.
New York Rangers lineup: Georgiev starts
Igor Shesterkin has been in net for every game in the season series. This will be Georgiev’s first crack at the Islanders in the finale between the two squads.
Georgiev has really bounced back nicely with a strong showing of late.
Since April 15, he has won six straight games and posted two shutouts. One of those came against the Carolina Hurricanes on the road, where he stopped 44 shots. His stats during this streak come with a 2.19 GAA and a .916 SV%.
Head coach Gerard Gallant also reiterated that he expects Kaapo Kakko back by Game 1 of the playoffs and likely before that.
“Hopefully he will play 2 or 3 of the last games but we expect him for playoffs,” he said earlier this week.
Kakko, 21, suffered the injury in the first period last Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings. He was skating along the left wall while tied up with Tyler Bertuzzi when he fell. His right leg went underneath him as he crashed into the boards.
The Rangers first pick (second overall) of the 2019 draft has really had a hard time getting things going this season due to these injuries.
He’s only been able to play in 40 games amassing just 7 goals and 16 points for a .40 points per game average, which is only slightly better than last season’s .34 average.
For his career, Kakko has 26 goals and 56 points in 154 games.
Artemi Panarin says he’s a wolf
The New York Rangers leading scorer is not interested in getting a rest before the playoffs begin in May.
“I don’t think about (rest). I am a wolf,” he told reporters on Wednesday after practice.
This has been another impressive campaign for Panarin with 92 points in 72 games to date. He needs 8 points in the final 5 contests to hit the century mark for the first time in his career. With a number of multi-point games this year, you can’t rule it out. His career high is 95 points, set with the Rangers in his first season on Broadway.
Panarin, 30, signed with the Blueshirts as a UFA in the summer of 2019 for 7 years at $11.6M AAV. In 183 games with the team he’s recorded 245 points in 183 games.
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