Adam Cracknell, a healthy scratch for his third game with the Rangers on Saturday after having been claimed on waivers from Dallas on Oct. 9, returned to the lineup for Tuesday’s match at the Garden against the Penguins and did some solid blue-collar work in limited ice time.
Cracknell got 7:16 centering Michael Grabner and Pavel Buchnevich on a remade fourth unit as coach Alain Vigneault went with a traditional 12-forward, six-defensemen alignment in the 5-4 overtime loss after going with 11-and-7 in two of the previous three matches.
Vigneault said assistant coach Lindy Ruff, who was the head man behind the bench when Cracknell scored 10 goals and six assists in 69 games for the Stars a year ago, reported the 32-year-old, a 6-foot-2, 218-pounder, played the middle, “[Around] 50 percent of the time.