Antti Raanta, who has started six straight for the Rangers in Henrik Lundqvist’s absence, is sure hoping to extend the second-longest such streak of his career to seven when the Islanders visit the Garden on Wednesday.
It would mark the third complete set of back-to-backs within 13 days for the 26-year-old Finn since Lundqvist went down with a hip issue following the club’s March 7 victory in Florida.
“It is up to the coaches, of course, but I feel good and want to be in again,” the 26-year-old Finn said following Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime defeat to the Devils in Newark. “It’s a funny schedule with the back-to-backs, it’s different, but I feel strong.
“That’s why you work so hard over the summer, to be ready for situations like this. That’s why you work so hard in practice when Hank is playing all the games. It’s for this.”
Lundqvist is expected to return this weekend when the Rangers have a back-to-back in California beginning in L.A. on Saturday before concluding the next night in Anaheim. Raanta, 15-5-2 with a pair on no-decisions in 22 starts and 2-2-2 through this stretch, started 10 straight for the Blackhawks in December 2013. He is being backed up by Magnus Hellberg.
Mystery, New York.
After not having played the right side for, in Marc Staal’s own estimation, “25 years,” before Saturday night’s 3-2 victory in Minnesota, the 30-year-old defenseman was, well, right back in that spot with Ryan McDonagh on his left for Tuesday’s matchin New Jersey.
Coach Alain Vigneault, though, would not disclose the reason for the switch that worked out just fine against the Wild, with Staal adapting well to the new experience.
“I have my reasons, but I don’t want to reveal them,” Vigneault said. “You’re going to have to trust me on it.”
McDonagh and Staal, both lefties, have skated as a pair for the last eight games. But it was McDonagh, who played the right for Team USA in the 2014 Olympics and in this past September’s World Cup, who had moved to his off-side in the first six of those contests.
Staal was solid again in 18:21 of work Tuesday.
The Rangers’ penalty kill unit yielded a power-play goal for the seventh straight game when John Quenneville the Devils’ 2014 first-rounder, scored from a wide-open left side at 15:16 of the second period. The Blueshirts, who yielded just one shot in killing the Devils’ first two advantages, have allowed seven goals on 18 disadvantages over the past six games, and eight on 23 over the past seven matches.
The Blueshirts had a 40-29 advantage in shots and a 68-41 edge in overall attempts, 53-36 at five-on-five.