There were welcome sights all over the place on Sunday in Westchester. For one thing, the Rangers were back on the ice - the team's first skate in eight days with the midseason bye week winding down. And that little period of rest helped usher in another welcome sight, a pair of important players taking the final steps toward rejoining the lineup.
The Rangers got reacquainted on Sunday afternoon, skating together for the first time since their victory in Boston last Saturday night that sent them into the nine-day hiatus on a three-game winning streak. Among the Blueshirts back on the rink in Westchester were both Kevin Hayes and Neal Pionk, who each had the benefit of the bye week to get some extra rest for their respective injuries that cost them a handful of games leading into the break - and each of whom said he felt good coming off the ice on Sunday.
Hayes, who is third on the Rangers with 33 points despite missing the last nine games with an upper-body injury, declared himself ready to go for Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden when the Rangers resume their schedule against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Practice Notebook: Hayes Set to Return to Lineup; Pionk Back on the Ice
"If you ask anyone, coming off break everyone's excited to be back," Hayes said on Sunday. "But knowing that I'm pretty much going to be playing again on Tuesday, it's exciting. It sucks missing games. I'm really excited for Tuesday."
Hayes' injury stems from a high-speed crash into the Garden endboards during the Rangers' Dec. 14 game against Arizona; the center played through it for the next eight games - racking up 10 points over that stretch as part of his career-high nine-game points streak - before the decision was made to give him some time off to get healthy.
He had been practicing in the week leading up to the break and said he wanted to try to come back last Saturday in Boston, "but it just didn't make any sense to play with all the time off."
"You never want to miss any games. I tried my hardest to keep playing," Hayes said. "I think I had about (eight) games in me with it, and then it just was starting to not be smart to keep playing and making it unhealthy if I kept playing. So I just stepped out, and I feel pretty good now. … I didn't really know what it was, and then just, time off and rest was the best recipe for it. Once I realized that, it was the right choice."
"He's had a really good year," said David Quinn, "not only point-wise, but there's a lot of things he's done well. And we've obviously missed him."
Pionk, meanwhile, was on skates for the first time since logging 19:53 against Columbus on Jan. 13, during which he was trying to play through an injury of his own. In all, the 23-year-old sat out four of the last five games before the break with the lower-body injury.
On Sunday, Pionk was slightly less committal than Hayes and still was due to meet with trainer Jim Ramsay, but all signs pointed to the blueliner being available on Tuesday, and Quinn said he would go right back into the lineup if he gets the green light.
"It was good to get out there for me, especially missing time. It was fun being out there with all the guys and playing the game," said Pionk, the Rangers' leader in ice time this season at 22:42 per game. "You can learn a lot when you watch, but it's also hard to watch just because you want to be out there and you want to do everything you can to help the team win, and you want to play the game. It's tough to watch and it's nice to be back here."
Unlike some of his teammates, Pionk took an unusual route to getting a little beach vacation during the break, choosing to spend some time back home with family in Duluth, Minn., on the shores of Lake Superior. "I saw the beach," Pionk said, "but the beach was frozen."
Still, Quinn said however his players chose to relax for a bit, it was valuable, because when the schedule restarts on Tuesday, "it does come fast and furious." Beginning with the game against the Flyers (who come out of their break with a back-to-back beginning on Monday night at home against Winnipeg), the Rangers will play exactly every other night through Feb. 12, eight games over a 15-day stretch.
Describing his goals for Sunday's practice, Quinn said, "After being off as long as we had, just get the legs back under us. Philly plays (Monday), so they're going to have a game under their belt before we play. So make sure we have a good effort and then get right back it, because there's not a lot of time."
When the Flyers come into the Garden, they will face Alexandar Georgiev in the Rangers' nets; Quinn said Henrik Lundqvist will serve as the backup after returning from this weekend's All-Star Game in San Jose in which the Ranger goaltender won the "Save Streak" contest in Friday's skills competition, then helped backstop the Metropolitan Division to the championship in Saturday's 3-on-3 All-Star tournament - which came with a $1 million prize for the winning players to divvy up. "Productive weekend for him," Quinn said of his netminder.
Georgiev, who took a pair of starts for Hartford during the Rangers' bye week, will be tasked with helping the Rangers pick up the momentum where they left off, with their victory in Boston making it three wins in a row and four out of five.
"Looking at the Bruins game, I thought we had a good night, did a lot of good things, we defended well," said Quinn, whose team allowed just seven goals in the three wins. "One thing I like, we've really defended much better over the last few games, and when we have given up a chance, that's been it. At our level, when you can minimize your chances and not have two or three quickly follow the one, you've got a chance, and I think that's what we've done a good job of."
2018-19 Rangers Tickets Are on Sale Now. Click Here to Get Tickets »
