A week after taking a crushing hit from Patrice Bergeron, Mika Zibanejad finally returned to the ice Sunday morning and has not been ruled out for Monday’s clash against the Senators at the Garden.
Zibanejad skated on his own before the Rangers practiced, but coach David Quinn had not determined whether he would be available to play after missing the past two games with an upper-body/neck injury.
“He felt much better today,” Quinn said. “He made a big step in the right direction, so we’ll see. I haven’t had a chance to talk to the trainers, so I’ll know a lot more [when I do].”
In Zibanejad’s absence, Ryan Strome has filled in as the first-line center and recorded a pair of goals and an assist.
For only the third time in his career, Alexandar Georgiev (3-2-1, 2.27 GAA, .933 save percentage) will start a third straight game for the Rangers on Monday night. The 23-year-old goalie is coming off back-to-back wins against the Lightning and Senators, in which he has stopped 61 of 63 shots on net.
“He’s played very well,” Quinn said. “Hank [Henrik Lundqvist] and I talked today, and that’s going to happen to Hank, too. Hank’s played well. It’s not that Hank hasn’t played well. It’s just we’ve got a little bit of mojo going and Georgie has benefited from us playing very well in front of him. Hank and I talked about that as well.”
Lundqvist, who is 2-3-0 with a 3.58 GAA and .906 save percentage, is set to start Wednesday against the Red Wings.
The Rangers have dressed seven skaters 21 or younger in each of the past two games and won both. Quinn was asked how their contributions impact how he feels about this season.
“Well listen, we just beat Buffalo, Tampa and Nashville. We didn’t beat Rye High [and] White Plains Jr. High School,” Quinn said. “We played three really good hockey teams and won. … I think that should make our guys feel really good about what we need to do and have a blueprint of what we need to do to have success.”
Chris Kreider was robbed of a goal Saturday in Nashville when he hit the post instead, but his game didn’t go unnoticed.
“He was all over the ice last night,’ Quinn said. “I thought that was Chris Kreider’s best game this year.”