Rangers face Red Wings without F Kreider (Dec 29, 2017)
DETROIT -- The New York Rangers will be without one of their best players when they play the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.
The team announced Thursday that forward Chris Kreider will be out indefinitely with a blood clot in his right arm. He was having more tests done.
Kreider, who had 11 goals and 22 points in 37 games this season, left Wednesday night's win over the Washington Capitals after the first period, in which he played 5:04.
"The only thing that I know is, just before the first period he felt some swelling in his arm," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told the New York Daily News on Thursday. "Docs checked him out, didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then in between the first and second, it got to a point where this was out of the ordinary. So they sent him to the hospital and found it out."
According to the New York Post, Kreider, 26, will likely miss six-to-eight weeks.
New York recalled forward Vinni Lettieri from the Rangers' American Hockey League affiliate.
The Rangers will visit the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.
The teams have a history of playing close, low-scoring games against each other.
Eight of the past 14 games between them have been decided in overtime, with New York winning six times; 16 of the past 19 between the clubs have been decided by one goal.
New York (20-13-4) has won three in a row in the series, including a 2-1 OT victory at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 24.
Goalie Henrik Lundqvist has a better career goals-against average (1.90) and save percentage (.938) against the Red Wings than any other team. He is 13-7-4 against Detroit, including four shutouts.
The Rangers got a little practice in the above-mentioned kind of games in their win Wednesday, a 1-0 shootout victory over the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden.
Backup goalie Ondrej Pavelec made 30 saves for his first shutout since March 22, 2016, and Mika Zibanejad and Mats Zuccarello scored in the shootout. Pavelec stopped T.J. Oshie and Alex Ovechkin.
Detroit (13-16-7) lost 3-1 in New Jersey on Wednesday night. The Red Wings have lost three in a row and have won only three of their past 16 games.
The Wings have scored only one goal in each of their past two games and are 0-for-7 on the power play.
Rookie forward Tyler Bertuzzi will start the game on the top line with center Henrik Zetterberg and right winger Gustav Nyquist. Bertuzzi will also replace right winger Anthony Mantha as the net-front presence on the second power-play unit.
"It's an honor playing with Zetterberg, and then Gus is always on his line for a reason," Bertuzzi said on www.mlive.com. "They have good chemistry and hopefully I can bring energy to the line."
Bertuzzi was called up from AHL Grand Rapids to replace forward Luke Glendening, who is out for about a month after suffering an upper-body injury in a 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers last week.
Mantha, who has three goals and two assists in his past 17 games, will start on a line with center Dylan Larkin and left winger Tomas Tatar.
"I think Mantha and Larks have had some success together," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "So, we'll see how it goes."
