Cody McLeod will play for the Rangers tonight in place of Vlad Namestnikov. (Stephenson)
The rest of the lines are the same as they were on Thursday:
- Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich
- Jimmy Vesey, Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello
- Ryan Spooner, Filip Chytil, Jesper Fast
During the preseason, McLeod said that his job is to "stick up for teammates" and Quinn said, "he's a straight-line player and has an edge to his game. (NY Post & NYR Game Notes)
McLeod played under Quinn when he was an assistant with Colorado in 2012-13.
David Quinn said on Saturday (NYR):
- On putting in McLeod, "This is a guy who is going to get after you, make you uncomfortable when you have the puck."
- On the Buchnevich, Kreider, Zibanejad line, "they didn't skate enough, it's a simplistic answer but it's the truth. I thought Mika had a real good night, that line with Kreids and Pavel, those guys have great speed. They weren't playing in your face hockey enough and I don't mean killing people, but getting on top of people. They know that and it's one game. They are going to be an effective line. You are not gonna have a great night every night but how are you going to rebound from a bad night."