SUNRISE, Fla. — Flu season is upon us.
At least among the Rangers, as fourth-line center Boo Nieves missed Saturday night’s 5-4 overtime win against the Panthers at BB&T Center after coming down with the illness in the morning.
“Thought he might turn around,” coach Alain Vigneault said, “but he hasn’t.”
Vigneault had already been dead set on changing his lineup, planning to make center David Desharnais a healthy scratch for the first time this season. He said that decision was being made because he wanted to get Paul Carey back into the lineup, having been out for nine straight games dating back to Oct. 13.
Well Carey still came back into the lineup, playing a team-low 8:35 with only two shifts in the third period in Nieves’ spot on the fourth line between Michael Grabner and Jesper Fast. Desharnais had suffered the same fate of the shortened bench in the previous two games, but he kept a regular shift while playing 14:00 between Jimmy Vesey and J.T. Miller.
“A lot of it had to do with me trying to get Paul back into the lineup,” Vigneault said. “I felt that he’s been working hard and wanted to get him back in. In my mind, I was going to make that change. At the end of day, David is staying with the same linemates and that line has been playing pretty good for us.”
Chris Kreider was called for a face-off violation early in the third period with the score tied 2-2. It was a curious call in a game that had few penalties, but Vigneault said the official explained it because Kreider “didn’t let the puck touch the ice. I didn’t really see the play, but that’s how he explained it to me.”
A stricter enforcement of face-off violations had been a main point of the preseason, but never really carried over into the regular season. The Rangers killed off the penalty with little issue.
Defenseman Brendan Smith was a healthy scratch for the second straight game, and Nick Holden remained on the top pair with captain Ryan McDonagh. Holden scored his first goal of the season on a long shot through traffic at 7:54 of the second period, tying the score, 1-1.
“Most teams that have success in the NHL, you need your D’s,” said Vigneault , who also got two goals from defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, including the OT winner. “Whether they be part of the forecheck or jumping up in the rush, our D’s did a good job.”
Shattenkirk played primarily with Brady Skjei, while Marc Staal made up the third pair with Steven Kampfer.
Henrik Lundqvist made his third straight start in goal, and was solid in making 30 saves. This stretch was preceded by Lundqvist sitting for two straight games while watching his backup Ondrej Pavelec play. But it’s unclear when Pavelec might get another start, with the next back-to-back not until Dec. 8-9.