If it was surprising to see Matt Puempel getting into a fight in his first preseason game Wednesday night, it wasn’t surprising for him.
The Rangers forward has made the decision to get back to being more physical this season after his first year with the Blueshirts was marred by two concussions within a month. So when he heard Devils forward Nick Lappin challenge him to a fight from the bench, the next time the two were out there, he accepted.
“I want to play harder, be more physical,” Puempel said after Thursday’s practice, with him preparing to be in the lineup when the Rangers take on the Islanders at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena on Friday night. “My first year in the American league, I had 10 or 12 [fights]. Last year, got hit a couple times in the head, those two concussions pretty close together, so I didn’t really engage too much like that to put yourself in that position. It’s just something — it doesn’t mean fighting every night. That’s not what the NHL is anymore, right?”
The Rangers claimed the 24-year-old Puempel off waivers from the Senators last season, and he scored a goal in his first game with the Rangers on Nov. 25. But he suffered his first concussion when he was hit by the Islanders’ Brock Nelson on Dec. 6, keeping him out just over a week. He suffered the second concussion Dec. 31, when he was hit by Avalanche forward Cody McLeod, and was not able to return until Jan. 23.
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After scoring six goals with three assists over 27 games with the Rangers, they re-signed him a one-year, $725,000 deal over the summer — due in part to the Rangers needing to meet the requirements for players exposed to the expansion draft. But he was set to start Friday’s game on a line with David Desharnais and Adam Tambellini, thus giving him an opportunity to do more than just be physical.
“I’ve always loved to score goals and be offensive, but to be in the lineup, there are different roles that take place in the lineup,” Puempel said. “I don’t want to cut off offense or anything like that. I just think that this is something that in the long run can create more offense and more offensive opportunities.”
Defenseman Alexei Bereglazov is set to get his first preseason action Friday night, paired with Steven Kampfer.
The 23-year-old Russian is 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, and hopes to get into the mix for a depth spot with the likes of Neal Pionk, Sean Day, Ryan Graves and Anthony DeAngelo.
“We had quite a few defensemen,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “But four games in five nights, [Bereglazov] is going to get a chance to play and show us what he can do.”
First-round pick Filip Chytil is going to get a chance for an encore Friday after his impressive preseason debut Wednesday. He is slated to play center between J.T. Miller and Pavel Buchnevich.
Originally, Vigneault wanted to move Miller back to center, but for this one game, he wants to get another look at Chytil down the middle, and he thought this was the best way to do it.
“J.T., we know he can play all positions and play all positions well,” Vigneault said. “We know his versatility. Need to find out a little bit more about Filip.”
Ondrej Pavelec is slated to start his second preseason game in goal, this time backed up by Chris Nell.