RALEIGH, N.C. — The Rangers got their captain back Wednesday night against the Hurricanes.
J.T. Miller returned to the Blueshirts lineup after missing the previous two games with an upper-body injury.
Slotting on to the right wing of Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, Miller rounded out the top six with Will Cuylle, Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafrenière serving as the top unit.
“Pretty good,” Miller said of how he felt in his first game back, after notching an assist on Artemi Panarin’s go-ahead goal in the second period of the Rangers’ 4-2 win over the Hurricanes. “Definitely tried to keep myself out of certain situations, but I think, for the most part, I felt pretty good. Felt like I could contribute without being taken too much away from my game.”
As a result, Conor Sheary was bumped from the lineup and served as a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
With just five assists through 24 games, Sheary is still looking for his first goal of the season.
Without Sheary, the third line was composed of Brett Berard, Noah Laba and Jonny Brodzinski. Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick and Taylor Raddysh made up the fourth unit.
Despite participating in an optional morning skate on Wednesday, defenseman Will Borgen was sidelined for the sixth time in the last seven games with an upper-body injury.
He remains on injured reserve.
Juuso Parssinen cleared waivers and was assigned to AHL Hartford on Wednesday.
With uncertainty surrounding Borgen’s status, the Rangers subsequently recalled defenseman Connor Mackey from the Wolf Pack.
The Rangers were unable to recall Scott Morrow, who got a run of three games from Nov. 16-22, due to new CBA rules.
In order to prevent paper transactions, a player needs to be in the AHL for at least one game before being called back up to the NHL.
After the Rangers sent him down following the Utah game on Sunday, the Wolf Pack were not set to play again until Wednesday night.
By burying $1.15 million of Parssinen’s $1.25 million average annual value in the minors, the Rangers incur the $100,000 difference against their cap.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 36 of the 38 shots he faced in his ninth win of the season.
Backup Jonathan Quick, who was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury on Tuesday, did not accompany the Rangers on the two-game road trip.
All tests came back clean, per a source. The hope is that Quick will be better by next week.
The Rangers scratches will skate on Thanksgiving in Boston before the team faces the Bruins on Friday afternoon at TD Garden.
The following day at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers will take on the Lightning.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
