The Rangers rolled Friday night with the same lineup they used for Wednesday’s dominant win over the Flyers, but the result was a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in Washington.
On Wednesday, head coach David Quinn and his coaching staff were unavailable after entering COVID-19 protocol just before the game, so the Hartford Wolf Pack crew simply deployed the game plan that was laid out for them, which led to the historic 9-0 win.
Acting head coach Kris Knoblauch and Wolf Pack associate coach Gord Murphy, as well as associate general manager Chris Drury, followed Quinn’s instructions again on Friday — this time against the Capitals.
“It’s Quinn’s and his coaching staff’s [decisions],” Knoblauch said before his second game behind the Rangers’ bench. “It might have been a little bit different if we had lost [on Wednesday]. Ultimately, it would be his decision, but if we had lost and things didn’t go well, I’m sure we would have communicated that, ‘How did you feel? Any changes? Do you think somebody wasn’t going?’
“Then we’d probably talk and discuss lineup changes. Obviously, with the way things went the other night, we’re not going to change anything.”
With the same lineup as Wednesday, forward Julien Gauthier was in street clothes for the second consecutive night.
Knoblauch added that there were very minimal changes implemented following the team’s offensive explosion at the Garden two days earlier, which Flyers coach Alain Vigneault, former Rangers head man, described as “embarrassing.”
The second-year Wolf Pack coach noted that the only difference for the Rangers will be their opponent. He also mentioned that he has a better feel for the players.
“What they prove, what kind of role they’re suited for, whether it’s a defensive zone, faceoff left side or offensive zone draw, who can recover after the power play, kind of the flow of the lines,” Knoblauch said. “I think I have a better feel for that.”
Goaltender Igor Shesterkin skated Friday morning, but is still considered day-to-day with a groin strain. Friday’s game was the eighth straight for which Shesterkin was unavailable.
Knoblauch said Thursday that the 25-year-old Russian netminder was a possibility for the second game in Washington on Saturday.
Alexandar Georgiev, in his second straight start Friday, let up two goals to Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin in the span of 3:09 in the second-half of the third period. Both of Ovechkin’s goals came from the same spot in front of the Rangers’ crease after a bouncing puck popped right onto his stick.
“Kind of déjà vu on that second goal, pretty identical,” Chris Kreider said. “Tough rotation there and getting pucks and bodies to the net, that’s a recipe for scoring goals so something that we could probably do a little bit more of tonight but we certainly didn’t overlook that.”
