GREENBURGH, N.Y. — When you’ve won six games in a row, there isn’t a lot of momentum to make changes going into a matchup against your most heated rival.
But Rangers coach Alain Vigneault didn’t like what he saw from rookie forward Pavel Buchnevich in Monday’s 3-2 win in Columbus. So Buchnevich will sit and Matt Puempel will take his place when the Rangers visit the Islanders at the Barclays Center on Thursday.
“ ‘Butch’ has a so-so game last game,” Vigneault said after practice on Wednesday. “Part of the growing process of a young player. ‘Pumps’ is a young player and I just feel that it’s time to get him in.