Field Level Media
18 Nov 2023, 09:55 GMT+10
(Photo credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports)
The New Jersey Devils team that takes the ice against the New York Rangers Saturday night will hardly look like the one that lined up against the Rangers in Game 7 of an Eastern Conference first-round series on May 1.
But they might finally look a little bit closer to whole.
Star center Jack Hughes could return to the Devils Saturday night, when New Jersey hosts the Rangers in the first game this season between the longtime rivals in Newark, N.J.
Both teams enter the rematch off wins over Metropolitan Division foes. The visiting Devils snapped a three-game losing streak Thursday night with a 5-2 win over the host Pittsburgh Penguins. The Rangers have been off since Sunday, when they continued surging with a 4-3 shootout win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Devils ended their skid Thursday despite missing a trio of key players in Hughes, center Nico Hischier and right winger Timo Meier. Hischier (upper body) is expected to be sidelined for a ninth straight game Saturday while Meier (lower body) will likely sit out with an injury suffered in Tuesday's 6-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
But Hughes, who scored 43 goals and set a single-season franchise record with 99 points last year, practiced with the Devils on Friday for the first time since he suffered an upper-body injury against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 3. Counting that game, a 4-1 loss, New Jersey is 2-4-0 without Hughes after opening the season 6-2-1.
Head coach Lindy Ruff said Hughes, whose 20 points through the first nine games led the NHL, will be a game-time decision Saturday.
"We'll get him a skate tomorrow and see how we handled today," Ruff said following practice Friday. "I mean, today wasn't very much of a day, just a little bit of the flow. We'll get him into the grind and get through tomorrow and see where he's at."
The Rangers are also hoping to welcome back at least two familiar faces as they look to continue a red-hot start under coach Peter Laviolette, who was hired June 13, a little more than a month after Gerard Gallant was fired following the seven-game loss to the Devils in which New York squandered a 2-0 series lead.
At 11-2-1, the Rangers lead the Metropolitan Division by five points over the Washington Capitals and have the fourth-most points in the NHL behind only the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights as well as the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks.
The Rangers extended their winning streak despite the continued absence of center Filip Chytil (upper body), defenseman Adam Fox (lower body) and goalie Igor Shesterkin (undisclosed), all of whom have missed the last four games. New York also lost defenseman Ryan Lindgren after he was boarded in the third period by Sean Kuraly.
Lindgren and Shesterkin each practiced Wednesday and will be game-time decisions Saturday.
"He plays the game hard and it's really nice to see him not have it go down different roads," Laviolette said of Lindgren following Wednesday's practice.
--Field Level Media
Get a daily dose of Vancouver Star news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Vancouver Star.
More InformationCOLUMBUS, Ohio: To stop the spread of bird flu, more than 1.3 million chickens will be killed on Ohio's Union ...
In a devastating turn of events, Israel's war on Gaza, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attacks on October 7, has resulted ...
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana: In a Louisiana election where more than 43,000 people cast their ballots, a candidate for parish sheriff ...
LIVINGSTON, Kentucky: This week, railroad operator CSX said a train derailment involving 16 cars, two of which spilled molten sulfur ...
Fifty-seven journalists have been killed as of Saturday as a result of Israel's war on Gaza, which has extended to ...
TEL AVIV, Israel - Following Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's statement on Emily Hand's release, Israel's foreign minister says he summoned the ...
NEW YORK, New York - Retreating bond yields and a higher-then-expected GDP reading for the third quarter boosted U.S. stocks ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: President Joe Biden invoked a Cold War-era act this week to boost investment in U.S. manufacturing of medicines ...
NEW DELHI, India: On November 24, the Economic Times (ET) reported that Tesla is ready to invest up to $2 ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks closed in positive territory despite a volatile day Tuesday. Spending much time in ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: On November 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled three more brands of whole and pre-cut ...
DETROIT, Michigan: US electric vehicle (EV) sales are expected to reach a record of 9% of all passenger vehicles this ...