Barclay Goodrow drew back into the Rangers’ lineup on the second night of their back-to-back Sunday against the Kings, after the 30-year-old missed the previous game in Washington.
Revealed as a game-time decision by head coach Peter Laviolette, Goodrow took warm-ups sporting a full face guard and ultimately slotted back into his usual spot on the fourth line between Jimmy Vesey and Tyler Pitlick.
“It was also for Goody, letting him know the way essential he’s to our team,” Laviolette said of starting Goodrow and the remaining of the fourth line within the Rangers’ 4-1 win over Los Angeles.
“Putting him right back on the market. He was off for a pair days. Obviously, something happened and he needed to take a while. For him to come back back and step in. We talked about it, it was a superb matchup [with the Kings’ top line of Quinton Byfield, Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe].
“We didn’t follow it one hundred pc, but they probably caught 60 to 70 percent of their shifts against that line. I believed they did a fantastic job. I believed him coming back with what he just handled, I believed he played a heck of a game, too.”
Goodrow was forced to go to the locker room in the primary period of the Blueshirts’ 6-2 loss in Ottawa on Tuesday, when a keep-in attempt smacked him squarely within the face and knocked out a tooth or two.
He was sidelined for the rest of the sport after which missed the next two practices.
In 24 games this season, Goodrow has one goal and two assists with 30 penalty minutes on the season.
Despite coming off two losses in a row, Laviolette opted to maintain a majority of the lines the identical — other than reinserting Goodrow and flipping Blake Wheeler and Jonny Brodzinski.
“There’s been some things which have popped in, where we’ve needed to shake them up regardless due to the injuries,” Laviolette said before the sport. “I still think that the one line, the one line, the [Vincent] Trocheck line [with Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere], stays really dynamic and offensive. I don’t really need to get near that one yet. I believe they’re doing plenty of good things.
“I wouldn’t shake it up after Ottawa because those are things we want to do higher from a defensive standpoint. The attack and the offense was there. [Against the Capitals], I’d like to provide these guys a probability to reply and see how they do.”
So the highest line featured Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Wheeler, while Will Cuylle, Nick Bonino and Brodzinski skated on the third unit and Vesey, Goodrow and Pitlick made up the fourth line.
The Rangers are scheduled to be off on Monday before they return to game motion against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday on the Garden.
Forward Riley Nash was reassigned to AHL Hartford after Sunday’s win.