Bantering Points: 2/16/17
News and notes for Thursday, February 16th, 2017
It's February 16th, and the Rangers will be visiting the Islanders as the two teams are in a heated battle for playoff spots. If that sounds familiar, that's because it has happened before, and it resulted in one of the most exciting games of Alain Vigneault's tenure in New York. Here are today's news and links:
Rangers News:
- Brett Cyrgalis believes that Alain Vigneault is using a trip to the press box as a lesson for Pavel Buchnevich (NY Post)
- Cyrgalis also made note of how the Islanders have undergone drastic changes since their last meeting with the Rangers over two months ago (NY Post)
- Justin Tasch discusses how some Rangers players feeling heading into the Barclays Center isn't as intense as taking the trek out to Nassau (NY Daily News)
- Game Preview: New York will look to earn two more points, as they square off against New York later today (CBS)
- Steve Zipay confirms that Matt Puempel will be replacing Pavel Buchnevich in the Rangers' lineup tonight (Newsday)
- Kevin Baumer highlights Buffalo Sabres defenseman Dmitry Kulikov as a potential trade target for Jeff Gorton (Blue Seat Blogs)
- John Williams highlights Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin as a potential trade target for Jeff Gorton (Blue Line Station)
- Brandon Cohen argues why the Vegas Golden Knights will select Jesper Fast in the expansion draft (Blue Line Station)
- Matt Calamia delivers another prospect update, with bits on Ryan Gropp, Sergei Zborovskiy, and more (Official Team Site)
- Matt Puempel, Brady Skjei, and Ryan McDonagh take on Kevin Hayes, Jimmy Vesey, and Brandon Pirri in a game of "Caption This" (6:42 Video via Official Team Site)
- Post Practice Interviews: Henrik Lundqvist,(2:56) Ryan McDonagh,(1:46) Marc Staal,(1:52) Rick Nash,(1:08) and Alain Vigneault (4:48) (Official Team Site)
- He appeared in 24 games for the Rangers in 2011, before riding off into retirement after playing over 1100 games in the NHL. Yesterday's player in the picture was.....Bryan McCabe (Wikipedia)/
Around the NHL:
- Former Rangers goaltender Corey Hirsch shared the story of his extensive mental struggles as a young player in the National Hockey League (The Players Tribune)
- Greg Wyshynski reports that former NHLer Mike Comrie is under investigation after a woman claimed he raped her (Puck Daddy)
- Mike Johnston passes along word that Detroit Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist has been suspended six games for high-sticking Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon (Sportsnet)
- Sean McIndoe examines a number of exceptional seasons by defenseman in year's past, and wonders why none of them have won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player (The Hockey News)
- Matt Cane demonstrates why structure and coaching are vital pieces to a team's fortunes on the power play (Hockey Graphs)/