Before Wednesday night, the Rangers had only lost one player on the COVID log list when Kaapo Kakko missed the game against the Penguins on February 1st with a false positive test.
Kakko returned to the list on Saturday when he paused for the Washington Blueshirts competition and stayed on the roster for Wednesday’s Philadelphia game. That was not all, however, as the blueshirts also put K’Andre Miller on the list in the hours leading up to the 4-3 loss to the Flyers.
It is unclear whether Miller, who is in Jack’s line-up Johnson was replaced who had tested positive. It is also unknown whether the Rangers could be prone to an outbreak after these situations, which occurred five days apart.
Johnson, a scratch for Saturday’s win over the capitals, had at last Thursday Rangers won 3-2 in Philadelphia after missing the last eight games with a groin injury. He had only participated in one training session before being reinstated.
Mika Zibanejad played perhaps his most dynamic game of the year, collecting two assists in 20:20 Ice Age, but he was rejected twice on shorthanded breakaways that second with 3:40 and the Blueshirts with 4: 3. Zibanejad was also rejected earlier, with 5:45 in the first period when the puck rolled on him.
Both times he went to the backhand. Both times Brian Elliott was up to the task. He was asked if he believed he could have scored if he had had a normal season, not the one where he scored two goals, one of which was deposited into an empty net.
« Me don’t know. I took the step I usually take, he read it, he didn’t go in, « said Zibanejad. » Well, I don’t know. It’s hard to answer. It just leads to more speculation. I’m just trying to keep it as simple as possible and not rethink those opportunities. «
The Rangers, 2-5 in power play, have now scored three goals in a row with the man advantage (4:15) after having played 0-14 in the previous five games.
In the absence of Miller were Kakko, Jacob Trouba (thumb) and Artemi Panarin (leave), Brendan Smith and Anthony Bitetto on the points of the power play of the second unit. The Blueshirts have scored 10 power play goals, nine of them with the first unit.
The Rangers won only 20 of 55 games (36 percent), while Zibanejad only won two of their 14 draws.
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