Tinordi lights lamp coming off long layoff
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A speck of mystery intruded on game day when head coach Gerard Gallant’s media availability was abruptly moved from the morning skate to two hours before Saturday’s scheduled 7 p.m. match here against the Ducks.
The Rangers may have been waiting on COVID-19 test results that might either have created havoc within the lineup — forwards Lauri Pajuniemi and Anthony Greco were summoned in the a.m. from Hartford to fly west and join the taxi squad — or could have jeopardized the game itself. Perhaps Gallant was waiting for his own result.
No, though. While the news was not welcome, it was limited to the revelation of Ryan Reaves being placed on the restricted list. Surely, this could have been worse.
Regardless of doings up front, Jarred Tinordi got into the lineup on defense for only the sixth time this season and his first NHL game since Nov. 21.
“When you haven’t been in for a while, I think it’s just a mindset,” said the 29-year-old, who skated on Nils Lundkvist’s left side, before the Rangers’ 4-1 victory. “These guys do a great job. My body is ready to go. It’s just a mindset to keep it simple.”
Tinordi, who scored his second career goal to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 1:46 of third period, has never played more than 28 games in one year through six previous partial NHL seasons that he spent with Montreal, Arizona and Nashville. But he probably did not quite foresee this type of inaction when he signed a two-year free agent contract worth an average annual value of $900,000 per last summer.
“Things change pretty quickly in this game. With COVID and everything that’s going on, you really don’t know what can happen any given day,” said Tinordi, who played under Gallant as an assistant coach for a couple of years in Montreal early last decade. “So you just have to get your mind right and make sure your body is ready to go.”
Tinordi also needs to make sure that he is not overanxious and does not over-extend himself in an effort to be physical.
“It’s always tough being out for a while and coming in and getting right back to game speed,” he said. “But I think you use your time the best way you can. When you’re watching the games it’s kind of easy to let your mind wander so you try to watch with a purpose and be on top of everything.”
➤ Patrik Nemeth was restored to the active roster and is expected to practice on Sunday before Monday’s match in LA. Nemeth, who has missed the last four games, had previously been moved to non-roster status for “personal reasons.
Hartford defenseman Braden Schneider, believed in COVID protocol when NHL taxi squads were formed coming out of the holiday recess, rejoined the Wolf Pack lineup on Friday in Rochester for his first game since Dec. 19. The 20-year-old right-hand defenseman also played in Saturday’s match at Utica.