Carcillo could draw into New York’s lineup

Former King Daniel Carcillo is eligible to play for the Rangers tonight following the expiration of his amended six-game suspension for “physical force to an official for the sole purpose of getting free of such official during or immediately following an altercation” during the Eastern Conference Final, as defined in Rule 40.4.

But that doesn’t mean he’s a lock to have his name penned into Alain Vigneault’s lineup card.

“I have no idea,” Carcillo said when asked if he’d play tonight.

That said, it’s not a stretch to expect him to play his first game of a series in which the Rangers are looking for a spark after losing the first three games.

“He would bring what he’s brought to us all year long, is real good energy,” Vigneault said. “He’s been in these situations before. He’s been a good player for us. If we do use him tonight, I’m sure he’s going to be ready.”

Carcillo has two goals and 22 penalty minutes in eight playoff games.

Alain Vigneault, on the energy brought by players inserted into the lineup:
That’s why sometimes we make changes. You know, we’re expecting changes to be positive for our team. Sometimes you can shuffle the deck with the lineup you have, or sometimes you bring new players into the lineup to hope that they can give you a spark. Every time we needed players to come in for different reasons, they’ve usually come in and done a pretty good job for us. I had my Netflix imitation for you guys today. Nobody asked.

Vigneault, on whether the mood is different from yesterday:
Not sure what you guys expected. But I think our overall mood was the one that was expected and appropriate. I didn’t think anybody would be making cartwheels yesterday. Today we’re back at work. We had a good meeting this morning. We’re getting ready for a good hockey game tonight.

Daniel Carcillo, on the potential to play against a former team:
It seems like I play against a lot of my former teams. I don’t really like speaking in what-ifs and all that stuff, but obviously we need to have a good effort tonight. It’s do-or-die.

Carcillo, on what impact he’d like to bring:
Obviously bring a little boost in some energy, but I don’t really know what’s happening, so I don’t really want to speak to ‘what-ifs.’

Carcillo, on whether the last six games were tough to watch:
It’s not easy. You play the whole year and your whole life, really, to get in this situation, and you want to be playing. If you can’t, you just have to be a good teammate and do what you can to stay ready and do whatever you can to just be a good guy in the room.