The Rangers had a very heroic comeback win last night. I am in Atlanta, thus I could not watch the game. But I was getting text messages and saw that the Rangers, down 2-0 going into the second fired off four unanswered goals, three in the second period, en route to the 4-3 victory. It was a good victory, even if flawed during the first period. Torts relied heavily on his workhorses, and they delivered. Those workhorses did not include the recently called up Corey Locke or Anders Eriksson.
Starting with Eriksson, the defenseman played just 7:44, none of which were on special teams. With this decreased playing time, only two possible conclusions can be made. The first is that Eriksson was being taught a lesson by coach John Tortorella, and was benched for a period of time, or that Eriksson simply has not won over the coach, and his ever decreasing playing time is a result. Regardless, it makes sense to insert Matt Gilroy back into the lineup if Eriksson is only playing seven minutes a game.
Moving on to Locke, whom many fans wanted to see on the Rangers due to his “pretty” statistics in the AHL, the tiny forward skated in just 6:35 of the 60 minute game, with his time tapering off towards the end of the game. He also did not play a single second on the powerplay, which is supposed to be his specialty and source of all his points in the AHL. When Enver Lisin generally sees more ice time, it is safe to say that Locke’s debut wasn’t a success. I wouldn’t expect him to be with the Rangers much longer. Hopefully, Sean Avery and Ryan Callahan will be back in the lineup for the trip to Florida, and there will be no need for Locke in the lineup.
As per Steve Zipay, Ryan Callahan is out tonight with his leg injury, being replaced in the lineup by the recently called up P.A. Parenteau. The other player called up, Anders Eriksson, will be in the lineup tonight, replacing Matt Gilroy. Gilroy only played 10:05 in the shootout win against New Jersey on Thursday night.
The other minor lineup change for tonight is that Aaron Voros will indeed return tonight, and Enver Lisin will be the additional healthy scratch.
The Rangers have called up P.A. Parenteau and Anders Eriksson from the AHL, for Saturday’s game against Toronto. The Parenteau call-up is presumably for Ryan Callahan, who re-injured his leg against the Devils.
As for Eriksson, there are a couple potential reasons for the call-up. The Rangers may want a seventh defenseman for the rest of the road trip (which would be odd, since they haven’t carried seven all year). Or, it may be to replace Matt Gilroy, who played only 10:05 in the shootout win against the Devils. Do the Rangers want a veteran presence for the last playoff push? We’ll see what happens.
With what can essentially be called two trade deadlines this year due to the Olympics, the Rangers did not make any major trades to improve the NHL club at this year’s deadline. The only significant move the Rangers will have made was the Olli Jokinen deal.
As for the minor trades the Rangers did make, they were Jordan Owens for Kris Newbury, and Miika Wiikman/7th rounder in 2011 for Anders Eriksson. Owens was signed to an NHL contract over the summer, but with the Pack in need of centers, the trade was made. Eriksson, 35, is a depth defenseman, and is probably going to be used to fill the depleted defensive corps at Hartford.
That’s it. Talking about anti-climactic.
The Depth Chart has been updated to reflect these moves.
