Head coach Mike Sullivan continues to search for the best third defensive pair combination.
Urho Vaakanainen drew back into the lineup for the first time since Nov. 26 in Saturday night’s 5-4 overtime win against the Canadiens, after the Finnish blueliner was a healthy scratch in the previous seven games to make it 14 times so far this season.
Replacing rookie Scott Morrow, Vaakanainen slotted on to the right side of Matthew Robertson and finished minus-two in 11:33 of ice time.
“There’s been some good, and then there’s been moments where we’d like to see growth,” Sullivan said of Morrow after an optional morning skate Saturday. “I don’t think that’s atypical of any young player, especially a young defenseman. We like his ability to move the puck. We think he sees it pretty well. He’s pretty good along that offensive blue line. He has an ability to get shots through. He’s good at finding sticks.
“An example of that would have been J.T. [Miller’s] slot tip in the Chicago game. Really good look, good vision, good awareness along the blue line by Scotty. He changes his angle to open up that opportunity to create that play. That’s what we’ve liked about his game.”
The 23-year-old Morrow got a run of five consecutive games, in which he recorded zero points while averaging 14:30 of ice time in a third-pair role.
He logged some time on the second power-play unit but got just a couple of reps with the top group after they gave up a shorthanded goal in the loss in Chicago earlier this week.
On the season, Morrow has registered one assist through nine total games.
Sullivan has harped on wanting Morrow to eliminate “hesitation” from his game, citing the need to make decisions with conviction and play more assertively.
With 25 career NHL games under his belt, Morrow evidently still is working to earn the Rangers coaching staff’s trust.
“The other element of it is just making decisions with conviction and having good reads,” Sullivan continued. “Getting inside the dots when he’s coming off the offensive blue line and defending the rush aggressively, his play at the net front in our own end, killing plays in the D-zone in the corners, just closing, taking away time and space, going stick-to-puck, when to have one hand on your stick or two hands on your stick.Stick details are such an important element of being a good defender in today’s game. Those are all the things we’re working with him.”
After a 13-game stretch, forward Jonny Brodzinski was a healthy scratch Saturday night against Montreal.
Taylor Raddysh, who was the odd-man out in the previous two, was reinserted onto the left wing of the fourth line next to Sam Carrick and Jaroslav Chmelar.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 13 of the 17 shots he faced in his 13th win of the season.
