Raanta, wife celebrate birth of daughter
BUFFALO — Antti Raanta, who had been scheduled to back up Henrik Lundqvist for Thursday night’s game against the Sabres, instead was home in New York with his wife, Anna, celebrating the birth of their first child.
“Evelyn Raanta 02/02/2017. Mom and Dad are super happy to have her in their lives,” the netminder posted to his @ARaanta31 Twitter account. “Everyone is feeling great.”
The 27-year-old Finn, who made a relief appearance against Columbus on Tuesday after having been sidelined since Jan. 14 with a lower-body issue, traveled with the team Wednesday afternoon but returned home when his wife went into Thursday morning.
The Blueshirts summoned Magnus Hellberg from the AHL Wolf Pack to serve as Lundqvist’s understudy, but didn’t play in the Rangers’ 2-1 overtime victory. Hellberg had turned in a spotless 18:32 in relief of Lundqvist in the Jan. 17 match against Dallas while Raanta was on injured reserve. labor The Rangers’ 0-for-15 power play skid over the previous five games — which ended as the Blueshirts went 1-for-3 Thursday — had a teamwide impact. But no one has been more affected by the drought than Brandon Pirri, the man-advantage specialist who became a healthy scratch against the Sabres.
“I have to make the power play count,” Pirri said. “It’s frustrating because I understand that’s kind of my role here. It’s a group thing, but when it’s not doing so well I look at it as my responsibility.”
Pirri has been a staple on the first power-play unit that also has featured Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, Mats Zuccarello and Ryan McDonagh. Indeed, Pirri has the thirdmost power-play ice-time on the club, trailing McDonagh and Zuccarello, and has been on the ice for 17 of the Blueshirts’ 31 power-play goals, second to McDonagh (19) in that category. He is tied with Kreider for the club lead in power-play goals with five.
But the combination of this power-play dip, which has dropped the Rangers from third in the NHL to 14th in a matter of three weeks, plus a lack of effectiveness as a fourth-liner cost Pirri his spot, with Oscar Lindberg moving into the middle between Matt Puempel and Pavel Buchnevich.