EDMONTON, Alberta — The Rangers’ recall of Victor Mancini on Friday was made in response to Zac Jones suffering an upper-body injury.
With Jones considered day-to-day, after skating in his eighth straight game, Mancini was inserted right into the Rangers lineup Saturday night against the Oilers at Rogers Place.
The 21-year-old Mancini was about to put on his skates for practice in Hartford when he heard he got the call from the Blueshirts.
He checked out of his hotel, went to the airport, and after a few delays, he was off to Edmonton.
Mancini didn’t check into his hotel until 3:30 a.m.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s been kind of a crazy experience getting on a plane and coming all the way here,” the Rangers rookie said after morning skate. “Just make sure I get some rest in between now and the game. Obviously, they have a really good team, they have a lot of skilled forwards. So it’s going to be a real challenge, but I’m excited for that challenge. I think it’ll be good to see where I measure up.”
The fact that the Rangers had Mancini haul out across the country to play against Edmonton, instead of just using Chad Ruhwedel, reveals that the organization considers the young blueliner to be the true seventh defenseman.
After he played in nine of the Rangers’ first 10 games of the season, Mancini was scratched for four straight games before he was sent down.
The Rangers wanted him to be playing instead of sitting in the press box.
“He was here, he didn’t do anything to lose that spot, we just didn’t want him sitting here not playing games,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “To keep him going and developing, he went back down to play games. Now he’s back. Rudy is a good defenseman for us, he’s played well. But the way it came out of camp, we were going with Vic at the time and I was upfront and honest and said if I could play seven I would, but we can’t.
“We just didn’t want him sitting here doing nothing and so we sent him down to play games until we needed him again.”
Filip Chytil skated with Ruhwedel after the team wrapped up morning skate.
Despite joining the Rangers in Calgary after getting cleared of a concussion by specialists in New York, the Czech center did not dress for a fourth straight game.
Jonathan Quick got the starting nod Saturday night against the Oilers, marking his fifth start of the season.
Carrying in a shutout streak of 128:05, Quick aimed to secure his 398th career win.