Antti Raanta was back at the rink Saturday, and the Rangers’ backup goalie still wearing the hospital bracelet from when his wife Anna gave birth to their first child on Thursday, a healthy daughter they named Evelyn.
Soon enough, he will be back between the pipes for a game.
Coach Alain Vigneault said starter Henrik Lundqvist would play in Sunday afternoon’s Garden match against the Flames, but added that sometime during this four-game homestand, with games every other day against Western Conference teams, Raanta would get the nod.
“I expect Antti to play at some time this week,” Vigneault said after Saturday’s practice.
The coach had to call up Magnus Hellberg to backup Lundqvist for the 2-1 overtime victory against at Buffalo on Thursday.
Vigneault added he had an idea of how many games he wanted to play each goalie in the remaining 31, but it was not set in stone.
“Right now, I’m going on a one-game basis,” Vigneault said. “I’m looking at the standings, like a lot of people are.”
Forward Kevin Hayes (left leg) skated for 45 minutes before practice, and took part in the first 15 minutes with his teammates before going off. Vigneault said Hayes will not play on Sunday, but he is “very, very close to coming back.”
Hayes has missed four games since getting hurt in a game at Detroit on Jan. 22.
Vigneault adjusted his lines for Thursday’s game, putting rookie Jimmy Vesey up with Derek Stepan and Rick Nash. He liked what he saw.
“I thought they had a good game,” Vigneault said. “I thought they had some powerful shifts last game. Jimmy was very useful to that line. Nasher took pucks to the net and easily could’ve had two or three goals in that game. I thought that whole line played a good game, played at both ends of the think and I expect that of them.”
Judging from practice, it looks as if Brandon Pirri will be a healthy scratch again, while Oscar Lindberg centered a fourth line with Matt Puempel and Pavel Buchnevich.
Defenseman Adam Clendening also was skating as an extra.
As for Super Bowl picks, Buchnevich, the 21-year-old Russian in his first year of North American hockey, picked “England.” His locker is next to Boston College alum and proud Patriots fan Chris Kreider, who also speaks Russian.
The Rangers’ recent home record has been a sore point. They have lost two in a row and five of their past six. But Vigneault said he thinks they’re close to turning it around.
“Since I’ve been here, I feel we’ve been very good at home,” he said. “We’re going through a small little stretch right now that’s a little bit more challenging for us, but I feel we’re real close. In all the games, we’ve had some pushes, we’ve some stretches where we’ve played real well. It’s just a matter of putting everything together, getting a timely goal and a timely save, and if we do that, I’m very confident that we will be in good shape.”
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