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Libor Hajek was recalled from his voluntary two-week conditioning assignment with the AHL Wolf Pack on Sunday, but the 23-year-old defenseman was in a familiar spot for that night’s Rangers-Sabres match at the Garden.
Which was, watching in street clothes as a healthy scratch for the 13th time in the 13 games Hajek has been on the NHL roster this season.
“Day by day,” head coach Gerard Gallant said when asked if Hajek might actually get into an NHL game. “He skated this morning. We’ll see where it goes.”
Hajek, the principal piece in return in the Ryan McDonagh/J.T. Miller trade at the 2018 deadline, played five games for the Wolf Pack during his stay while paired primarily with Zac Jones.
Gallant did make one change on the blue line for Sunday’s game, inserting Jarred Tinordi into the lineup while Nils Lundkvist took a seat. Tinordi, playing in his fifth game, had been scratched for the previous five straight and for 13 games overall.
This marked the fifth healthy scratch for Lundkvist, who has recorded two assists in his first 13 NHL contests while paired almost exclusively with Patrik Nemeth on the third tandem.
In what would be categorized as a surprise, Alex Georgiev got the start in net against Buffalo even though this represented the Rangers’ only game in a five-day stretch between Thursday’s match in Toronto and this coming Wednesday’s contest on the Island.
Making his fifth start, Georgiev had gone 2-1-1 with a 3.77 GAA and .870 save percentage, recording a save percentage of .888 or lower in three of his four previous starts.
Igor Shesterkin, meanwhile, is 8-3-2 with a 2.39 GAA and .930 save percentage, registering a save percentage of .912 or higher in 10 of his 13 starts.
Blueshirts entered the match 0-for-6 on the power play over their previous three games. Rangers had scored nine five-on-four PPGs on the year, with first-unit personnel Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox on for all of them. Ryan Strome has been on for seven with Alexis Lafreniere, bumped to the first unit when Strome was on the COVID-restricted list, on for two.
Sunday represented the 50th anniversary of the Blueshirts’ 12-1 Garden victory over the Golden Seals in which the club scored eight times in the third period. Jean Ratelle scored four goals while Pierre Jarry recorded the first two goals of his NHL career eight seconds apart. The second, that made the score 10-1, drove 21-year-old starting netminder Gilles Meloche to the bench in tears. Blueshirts held 52-16 edge in shots, 21-3 in the third period. Gene Carr (2-2) and Rod Gilbert (0-4) also had four-point nights.
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