Kakko last played Jan. 21. He missed the previous 31 games with an upper-body ailment. Gallant said in February that the issue had been bothering Kakko for a week or two prior to his extended absence.
The 21-year-old came into Saturday's contest with five goals and nine assists in 37 games this season. New York selected Kakko with the second overall pick in the 2019 draft.
Forward Kevin Rooney is also returning Saturday for the Rangers. He missed the last 18 contests with an upper-body issue.
New York is sitting pretty in second place of the Metropolitan Division with a 46-20-6 record entering Saturday's tilt.
The incident occurred during the opening minute of the third period in the Islanders' 2-1 victory. Cizikas finished a check to Smith's back in the Hurricanes' zone, sending him into the boards.
Cizikas received a minor penalty for boarding on the play. Smith left the game and did not return. There was no update on his status after the game.
The league posited that the onus was on Cizikas to avoid the check or deliver a legal hit, arguing that he had plenty of time to change course before making contact.
Cizikas will forfeit $12,500 in salary due to the ban. The 31-year-old has never previously been fined or suspended in his 653-game NHL career.
The Islanders take on the St. Louis Blues on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
Wood played just three games in 2021-22 after a preseason hip injury derailed his campaign. He underwent surgery in November and made his season debut on March 27. He played his last matchup on April 5.
The 26-year-old has 65 goals and 56 assists in 326 career NHL games, all with New Jersey.
Siegenthaler, meanwhile, is out after suffering a broken hand during Thursday's contest against the Montreal Canadiens.
The 24-year-old enjoyed a strong season with the Devils, logging one goal and 13 assists in 70 games while averaging 20:34 of ice time per contest.
New Jersey has 11 games remaining after failing to make the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
Johnson will likely make his NHL debut Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens, according to The Athletic's Aaron Portzline.
"Kent Johnson is a remarkable young man both on and off the ice," Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "He is a highly skilled and creative player who can bring you out of your seat whenever he's on the ice. We're thrilled that he is taking the next step in his career and look forward to his growth and contributions as a Blue Jacket for years to come."
The 19-year-old registered eight goals and tied for the team lead with 29 assists in 32 games for the Wolverines this season. Michigan fell to Denver in the Frozen Four semifinals Thursday.
The Blue Jackets drafted Johnson fifth overall in 2021. The youngster played for Canada at the 2022 Beijing Games and hopped on the scoresheet with five points in five contests.
He also represented Canada at the 2022 world juniors, which ended up being rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joining Johnson in Columbus is University of Michigan captain Nick Blankenburg. The 23-year-old defenseman signed a one-year, entry-level pact with the Blue Jackets and will also meet up with the team Monday.
Blankenburg sparkled for the Wolverines this season, putting up a career-best 14 goals and 15 assists in 38 games.
"We watched Michigan a lot this season and each time came away more and more impressed by Nick and the way he plays the game," Kekalainen said. "He is a talented, smart, really competitive player with great leadership qualities and we are thrilled to welcome him to our organization."
The 19-year-old defenseman signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Sabres on Friday.
The Sabres teased his arrival with a cheeky video of a phone regaining battery power moments before making the official announcement.
Power put up three goals and 29 assists in 33 games with Michigan this season. The Wolverines fell to Denver in the Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.
After what'll be a busy weekend in the NHL, we'll have an opportunity to evaluate how our bets do Monday, with just one game on the slate. Most astute bettors track their wins and losses to see how they do over the long term, which isn't the same as evaluating bets.
The two Canadian franchises in the Original Six went on the road Thursday night and found victory, albeit in different ways.
The Toronto Maple Leafs went to Dallas and outshot the Stars 41-18. Social media buzzed about Auston Matthews having more shots on goal than the entire Dallas team at one point. The Stars forced overtime, which Matthews won during three-on-three play. If you didn't know any better - or if you still swear by 1990s "metrics" - you'd think the Leafs dominated and should have won handily.
An evaluation of the advanced metrics suggests that their narrow win was a fairer result based on expected goals.
SCORING CHANCES
XG 5-ON-5
TOTAL XG
Maple Leafs
27
1.38
2.64
Stars
20
1.4
1.76
Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens went to New Jersey and racked up a season-high seven goals in a 7-4 win. Regardless of whether you look at the old-school shots-on-goal tally or peek into the advanced metrics, the play on the ice suggests a different story.
SCORING CHANCES
XG 5-ON-5
TOTAL XG
Canadiens
26
1.82
1.82
Devils
37
2.43
3.09
Aside from a few goaltenders having career years, there isn't much separating most goalies on a game-to-game basis. Juuse Saros is seventh in the NHL with a save percentage of 92.07. Jake Allen is 29th with 90.6%. That 1.47% gap equates to less than half a goal per game.
Andrew Hammond got his second start for the Devils -against the team that gave him his first start in three years earlier this season. He's 98th in save percentage this season out of 107 goaltenders who've seen the crease.
The Devils' skaters and bettors deserved better, but when a team starts a goaltender who isn't NHL quality, this type of thing can happen. Coincidentally, the New Jersey heads to Dallas on Saturday. Who the Devils have between the pipes will matter more than usual.
This season's on-ice predictive metrics make up 80% of our total rating. Basing 20% of the ratings on preseason "priors" allows us to emphasize team metrics without going all-in on what's happened during this campaign, which is still a relatively small sample size that includes some tainted results from when COVID-19 ravaged lineups.
I also have a 5% win probability consideration for a side playing in the second game of a back-to-back with travel and 3% without travel.
How to use the guide
What follows is my fair price on the matchups (true moneyline) and the moneyline price I would need to bet on each side. I just need a 1% edge for a favorite if we're getting better than a fair price on the team more likely to win. For the underdog, I'll need 4% or better to make it a bet. You can establish your own threshold - you may decide on a higher cutoff for bigger underdogs, like 6%-7%. On games I've projected could be a near coin flip, a 2.5% edge is enough to make a wager worthwhile.
DATE
GAME
PROJ. ML (%)
TRUE ML
PRICE TO BET
April 9
NJD@DAL
42.2/57.8
+137/-137
NJD +162/DAL -131
WSH@PIT
45/55
+122/-122
WSH +144/PIT -117
FLA@NSH
48.7/51.3
+106/-106
FLA +117/NSH +105
OTT@NYR
38.5/61.5
+160/-160
OTT +190/NYR -153
MTL@TOR
35.3/64.7
+183/-183
MTL +219/TOR -175
CGY@SEA
56.6/43.4
-130/+130
CGY -125/SEA +154
CBJ@DET
47.2/52.8
+112/-112
CBJ +132/DET -108
ANA@PHI
46/54
+118/-118
ANA +138/PHI -113
NYI@STL
43.1/56.9
+132/-132
NYI +156/STL -127
SJS@VAN
41.2/58.8
+143/-143
SJS +169/VAN -137
COL@EDM
44/56
+127/-127
COL +150/EDM -122
ARI@VGK
37.5/62.5
+167/-167
ARI +199/VGK -160
April 10
BOS@WSH
57.8/42.2
-137/+137
BOS -132/WSH +162
NSH@PIT
42.9/57/.1
+133/-133
NSH +157/PIT -128
LAK@MIN
45.4/54.6
+120/-120
LAK +142/MIN -116
BUF@TBL
33.8/66.2
+196/-196
BUF +236/TBL -187
ANA@CAR
34.6/65.4
+189/-189
ANA +227/CAR -181
DAL@CHI
50.9/49.1
-103/+103
DAL +107/CHI +114
WPG@OTT
54.5/45.5
-120/+120
WPG -115/OTT +141
April 11
WPG@MTL
50/50
+100/+100
WPG +110/MTL +110
Matt Russell is a betting writer for theScore. If there's a bad beat to be had, Matt will find it. Find him on Twitter @mrussauthentic.
For New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, the best way to break out of a frustrating stretch was to pitch a 30-save shutout against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
"Obviously, the last few games didn't go as planned, and I was really trying to get my grasp on the game," he told reporters via a translator after the Rangers' 3-0 victory. "But we'll keep moving forward from there. I'll work with the coaches, and we'll try to move on."
Heading into Thursday's contest, Shesterkin went 5-4-1 in his previous 10 appearances while logging a .902 save percentage and 2.88 goals above average. Both metrics were far below his overall season averages of .935 and 2.10, respectively. During that run, his save percentage dipped below .900 on five different occasions.
However, Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant wasn't fazed by the star netminder's dip in performance.
"People were worried about him. I wasn't. He played real well tonight, made some real key saves at key times," he said postgame.
Gallant added, "He's had a so-called 'tough stretch' a little bit lately - more the team for me than it was him. Tonight, he made three or four outstanding saves."
Teammate and fellow Russian Artemi Panarin has had a front-row seat to Shesterkin's greatness this season, but he joked that he wants to see even more from the Vezina Trophy contender.
"If he learned how to score as well, I think he'd really be there, but right now, we'll keep him at the salary he's got," Panarin said through a translator.
Shesterkin was quick to reply.
"(Panarin) promised that if I started scoring, he'd share a little bit of his contract," Shesterkin said.
The 26-year-old leads all NHL goaltenders with 36.88 goals saved above average and 34.87 goals saved above expected at all strengths this campaign, according to Evolving-Hockey.
The Rangers have 10 games left in the regular season for Shesterkin to cement his case as the league's top goalie.