Vitali Kravtsov officially made his NHL debut Saturday night in Buffalo.
The 21-year-old replaced Phillip Di Giuseppe in the Rangers and appeared on the third line, along with Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil. Kravtsov has been with the Blueshirts for just over a week since deleting the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols after his KHL Traktor team left the playoffs in early March.
“He has practiced well, he has enough time with us here,” head coach David Quinn said Saturday was the right time for Kravtsov’s debut. “I just thought it was a good time to bring it.”
With the new line for children, which now has an average age of 20, the fourth line will consist of Colin Blackwell, Kevin Rooney and Julien Gauthier.
Kravtsov, Rangers’ ninth choice in 2018, comes from an impressive KHL 2020-21 season, in which he had 16 goals and eight assists in 49 matches. He also added two goals and two assists in five playoff games.
His promotion to the Rangers’ taxi team on Saturday means he will receive a $ 925,000 headache.
“The first thing you want to do is enjoy it,” Quinn said of his message to Kravtsov. “It simply came to our notice then. They will disappear quickly once you have a few laps under your belt. … Play your game, don’t try to do too much, do the things that brought you here and enjoy the moment. ”
Goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin made his fifth start in six games, only for the second time in his Rangers career.
The Rangers recorded at least 62 goals in a calendar month (March) for the first time since December 1995.
In addition, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Strome and Adam Fox each recorded at least 20 points during the month, only the sixth time in the franchise’s history that three players have collected 20 or more points in the same calendar month. The last trio to do so was Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Pat Verbeek in 1995.
There are four Rangers who have 30 or more points this season (Strome, Fox, Artemi Panarin and Pavel Buchnevich). The Rangers are one of three NHL teams to have four players with at least 30 points this season, along with Lightning and the Jets.
Of the 107 NHL players who have recorded at least 70 minutes of ice this season, Ryan Lindgren (1.96), Buchnevich (2.80) and Fox (3.44) are ranked first, second and, respectively, on the fourth, in power-play goals against 60 minutes of power play.
Lindgren has been on the ice just for a power goal this season, while Fox has been on two and Buchnevich on three. In 31 of the last 32 games, Lindgren has not been on the ice for a power goal and recorded a shortened ice time of 80:39 during this period.