Brennan Osman was expected to be present at the morning skate. Kaapo Kakko's was not.
But there was also No. 24, who skated with teammates while wearing a red no-contact jersey for the first time since going down with a left foot injury on Nov. 27.
Head coach Peter Laviolette said, “I was happy to see Capo do well.'' “I think the next step in his progression is to get him to start skating with us. He was at that point, so it would be great to get him there.”
It's unclear when Kakko will return from the injury he sustained when he fell awkwardly into the boards in the corner with Eric Johnson with 4:47 left in the second period of the Buffalo contest. Thursday's game against the Blackhawks at the Garden was the 17th consecutive game the Finn has missed.
“He looks good, he moves well,” Laviolette said. “It's all positive.”
Kakko started the season on the right side alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, but after scoring just two points in 11 games (1-1), he was replaced by Blake Wheeler and Will -Skated on the third line with Quill and Nick Bonino. Until he got hurt.
The Rangers are being very cautious about the status of injured players, but it appears Kakko could return as early as the team's trip to Las Vegas and California, which begins on January 18th. It remains to be seen when he will start accompanying the team on road trips.
“Then I think we'll look at the road trip and think about whether he's going to have a chance to skate or whether it's more valuable to keep him here.” Laviolette finished with three total points in 2019 (two I talked about the parentheses that recorded -1). 20 games. “I believe that's the plan.”
Igor Shesterkin quickly returned to Thursday's game after giving up six goals on 27 shots in Tuesday's 6-1 loss to Carolina.
This was his seventh start for Russia in the club's last nine games. Before Tuesday, Shesterkin was on a five-game winning streak with a 1.58 GAA and .946 save percentage.
Chicago's touted No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard will make his MSG debut on Thursday.
The winger, who leads the rookie scoring race with 33 points in 37 games (15-18) and 10 points ahead of Columbus' Adam Fantilli and Minnesota's Marco Rossi, is a candidate for the 2022 and 2023 World Juniors. He was Osman's teammate on Team Canada. Championship. Quill also played for Canada in the 2022 tournament.
The Blueshirts will make a pit stop in Montreal on Saturday before returning home to face the Canucks on Monday.
