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RALEIGH, N.C. — Vitali Kravtsov’s reinstatement to active duty lasted one game and 10:46 of ice time.
The 23-year-old Russian, scratched for the Rangers’ 6-2 win Saturday against the Hurricanes after he got a rather brief opportunity on the third line Friday against the Kraken, is likely going to be a chip (or fodder) played by general manager Chris Drury ahead of the March 3 trade deadline.
Kravtsov had played on the right with Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck while Barclay Goodrow centered Jimmy Vesey and Julien Gauthier on the fourth line in the 6-3 victory over Seattle. He had one attempted shot that missed the net, and he was replaced down the stretch by the more defensively-committed Vesey and Goodrow for one shift apiece with the Rangers holding one- and two-goal leads.
Head coach Gerard Gallant was asked whether he hadn’t seen enough from Kravtsov or if he wanted a different look for this one, in which Vesey rejoined Trocheck and Kreider and Jake Leschyshyn skated between Goodrow and Gauthier.
“A little bit of both, actually,” Gallant said. “I wasn’t disappointed in him, but we want a different mix for [Saturday]. So a combination of both.”
The match Friday represented Kravtsov’s first game since Dec. 23, following four straight healthy scratches. He has registered six points (3-3) in 28 games, having been scratched 15 times while missing another 10 to assorted early-season injuries.
Regarding Vesey — who played nine previous games with Trocheck and Kreider — and Goodrow, Gallant said, “They might be on the fourth line, but they’re not fourth-line players.”
The Niko Mikkola-Braden Schneider pair had a tough night Friday after being united following just a morning skate. They were on for 11:32 while recording a 25 percent attempts rate (six for, 18 against) and an expected goals for of 22.67.
The 6-foot-5 Mikkola, who is far more than merely an incidental piece of the Tarasenko trade package from St. Louis, picked up three minors Friday, though his third-period call for delay of game for allegedly shooting the puck into the stands was proved incorrect by video. Despite those issues, Gallant gave the tandem a regular turn over the final 10 minutes of the game. It has not been unusual for the team to cut down to two pairs over the final 10-12 minutes of contested games.
“It’s not easy coming into a new team without a practice,” Gallant said. “They had a morning skate, but I thought he was good. He’s exactly what we wanted. He’s a big strong guy, and I think he’s going to be real good for our group.”
The delay of game penalty on Mikkola at 8:20 of the third came only 1:59 after the Kraken had narrowed the Rangers’ lead to 5-3. But the penalty-kill unit, featuring the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad, Vesey-Goodrow, Trocheck-Kaapo Kakko tandems up front and the Adam Fox-Ryan Lindgren and K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba pairs on the back, limited the Kraken to just one attempt — a Vince Dunn try from the left that was blocked by Trouba.
Jaroslav Halak entered Saturday with a six-game winning streak, through which he had recorded a .926 save percentage and 2.16 goals-against average. Henrik Lundqvist was the last Rangers netminder to win seven straight starts when he went 7-0 from Dec. 8-27, 2014, with a .940 save percentage and 1.84 GAA.
The Rangers will travel to Vancouver on Sunday, where they will practice twice before facing the Canucks on Wednesday. That precedes matches in Edmonton on Friday and Calgary on Saturday to conclude the trip.
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