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Justin Braun skated in his second game with the Rangers on Sunday night, when his former team, the Flyers, came to the Garden for the first time since the organization traded the veteran defenseman to New York.
After making his Rangers debut on March 22 against the Devils, Braun was a healthy scratch for the following five games. Braden Schneider had seemingly held on to his spot on the right side of the third defensive pair with Patrik Nemeth, but the rookie had a rough game against the Isles on Friday — in which he was a minus-three — and was scratched on Sunday against the Flyers.
“I want to win,” head coach Gerard Gallant said when asked if he decided to play Braun because it’s his former team. “Give [Braun] a chance to play. He’s played one game.”
Braun recorded two shots on goal in 11:24 of ice time in the 4-3 shootout loss.
The plan was always to get Braun back into the Rangers lineup eventually. President and general manager Chris Drury gave up a third-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft to get Braun, who went from playing top-pair minutes in Philadelphia to competing for a spot on the bottom duo.
With 100 playoff games under his belt, Braun is an experienced addition to the Rangers back end who can give the team some depth in the postseason.
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“Veteran guy,” Gallant said. “Coached against him when he was in San Jose, when I was in Vegas, played against him a lot. Solid defenseman, defensive defenseman, moves the puck up. So we’ll see, you’ve got to play games.”
Braun faced his former team for the first time after playing parts of three seasons in Philadelphia from 2019 to this year. Set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, Braun is competing for his next contract for the rest of this season.
Center Ryan Strome missed a fourth consecutive game with an undisclosed lower-body injury, tying the longest stretch he’s been sidelined this season. He had COVID-19 in October. … Forwards Julien Gauthier and Jonny Brodzinski slotted back into the lineup, with Gauthier lining up on the right wing of Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil. Brodzinski replaced Dryden Hunt on the right wing of the second line next to Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp.
Forwards Kaapo Kakko and Kevin Rooney are expected to resume practice this week, according to Gallant, after extended stays on injured reserve due to upper-body injuries. Sunday night was Kakko’s 29th straight game out of the lineup, while Rooney has missed the last 16 contests.
Recently signed college standout Bobby Trivigno made his professional debut with the AHL Wolf Pack in their 8-5 loss to the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday. Trivigno collected two assists.
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