GREENBURGH, N.Y. _ After two weeks of a training camp that coach David Quinn insisted was not a training camp, the Rangers had one last, brief skate at their practice facility Sunday and then it was off to Toronto, and the NHL bubble, for the league's 2019-20 restart. After four-and-a-half months of no games because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Rangers will play a practice game Wednesday against the rival Islanders, and then, finally, they will begin their best-of-5 qualifying series Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
"It's a little surreal," defenseman Marc Staal said in one final, post-practice Zoom call, before the Rangers boarded a bus to take them to their charter flight to Toronto. "After half a summer, not knowing what was gonna happen, and now that the day is here I think everyone's pretty excited. I think the energy around the room was kind of giddy, and guys were excited to get there. The last week or so, you're kind of, just, waiting to go.
"I think everyone's itching to play competitive hockey again. To be honest, you can only practice so long before you want to, you know, hit someone, or, make an impact that way in a real game."
