Kris Knoblauch

LOS ANGELES — The Rangers got Artemi Panarin back from COVID-19 protocol but took on the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night in a half-empty Crypto.com Arena without their coach, Gerard Gallant, who entered COVID protocol Sunday, and grinding forward Barclay Goodrow, who entered protocol Monday. With all of...

The Rangers have won four of their past five heading into Monday’s road game against the Los Angeles Kings. New York will have Artemi Panarin in the lineup after missing the past four games due to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. He was cleared earlier today. Unfortunately, COVID has...

The New York Rangers have announced that Gerard Gallant has entered the Covid protocol, and Kris Knoblauch will temporarily assume head coaching duties. Gallant now joins Ryan Reaves, Julien Gauthier, and Igor Shesterkin in the protocol, and it remains to be seen if there will be anyone else joining him after additional testing.

Just as Artemiy Panarin clears Covid protocol, the Rangers got hit again. Gerard Gallant has entered Covid protocol, and he will need to clear before he returns. Kris Knoblauch has taken over the head coaching duties in the interim. The last time Knoblauch took over on an interim basis, the...

The truth is, the New York Rangers began their hot streak before head coach David Quinn went out with COVID-19. The actual turning point was a smothering 4-0 win over the Boston Bruins on March 13 in star forward Artemi Panarin's first game back from his nine-game leave of absence. That sparked a 5-1-1 run in which Mika Zibanejad also caught fire, notching 17 points over the course of those seven games.

Kris Knoblauch is the perfect front man as the New York Rangers enter another contest with their eyes set on a win. Since his emergency call up due to David Quinn testing positive for COVID-19, Knoblauch has been in constant contact with the head coach. They speak by phone or zoom daily, and multiple times on game days.

Rangers acting coach Kris Knoblauch accused himself of "mismanagement’’ when asked about Alexis Lafreniere’s ice time in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Capitals in Washington. And he apparently was still bothered by that even as his team was set to face the lowly Buffalo Sabres at the Garden Monday night.

The Rangers are 2-1 with Kris Knoblauch filling in for David Quinn who is on the NHL’s COVID protocol list. Based on the rules, Knoblauch will be behind the bench for at least the next two games which includes Monday’s home game against the Sabres and Thursday road contest versus the Flyers.

Alexis Lafreniere got only 7 minutes and 53 seconds of ice time, about half of his season average of 14:44, in the Rangers’ 3-1 victory over the Capitals on Saturday night. "It’s probably mismanagement of the bench and not realizing the situation,’’ acting coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I know we had a lot of ‘D’ zone faceoffs. And also, matchups against their team, where they had the last chance. And I did want to keep him away from their top line. But other than that, I wish I would have played him more . . . Unfortunately, he missed out on some shifts.’’ 

Kris Knoblauch called it a “regular coaching day” even though the circumstances clearly were not. Knoblauch, who coached the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters from 2012-17, made his unexpected debut behind a National Hockey League bench on Wednesday. He was summoned from the Hartford (Connecticut) Wolf Pack, where he's in...

Wednesday was a hectic day for Kris Knoblauch and Gord Murphy, who went from coaching practice for the AHL Wolf Pack in Hartford in the morning to coaching the Rangers in their 7:30 p.m. start against the Flyers at Madison Square Garden. Thursday was more normal. "It feels more like...

After a Wednesday that Kris Knoblauch said he'll never forget, Thursday felt more like "a regular coaching day." Of course, he was in Tarrytown, New York coaching the Rangers, rather than Hartford, Connecticut with the Wolf Pack. But at least he woke up knowing what the plan was. "It was...