Rangers starting goalie Keith Kinkaid: 'I've been waiting for this opportunity'

Keith Kinkaid, the Farmingville native who has spent most of the season on the Rangers’ taxi squad as the team’s third goaltender, will get the start tonight when the Rangers close out their two-game series against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m.

"I thought Kinkaid earned the opportunity to play today,’’ Rangers coach David Quinn said after the team’s morning skate. "If we didn't like what we saw, we certainly wouldn't come back with him. But he's looked good in practices [and] I thought he played well in the two-plus periods he played the other night.’’

The 31-year-old Kinkaid, who signed as a free agent with the Rangers in October, came on in relief of Alexandar Georgiev in Sunday’s 5-1 loss, stepping in after Georgiev allowed three goals in a 61-second span late in the first period. He stopped the first 14 shots before allowing two goals on 18 shots in 42:46 in his first NHL game since November 2019.

He had been on the taxi squad until Igor Shesterkin went down with a groin injury last week. The Rangers elevated him to the roster to back up Georgiev in games Thursday and Sunday.

"I've been waiting for this opportunity,’’ Kinkaid said of his first start as a Ranger. "I feel really ready . . . I know a lot of my family and buddies are going to be super pumped for me, and I'm ready for this opportunity.

"I've been hoping for a break,’’ he said. "I plan on taking absolute control of this opportunity. And to prove I still belong in this league.’’

Kinkaid played at Union College and signed with the New Jersey Devils as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He spent his first three pro seasons with the Devils’ Albany affiliate in the AHL until finally making it to the parent club as a backup midway through the 2014-15 season, Martin Brodeur’s last with the Devils. Kinkaid remained with the Devils until he was traded at the deadline in 2018-19 to Columbus, and then signed a one-year deal that summer with Montreal.

But he didn’t play well in Montreal and was sent down to finish the season in the AHL. The Rangers signed him to a two-year contract because they needed insurance for Shesterkin and Georgiev, and they needed a goaltender they could potentially expose for this summer’s expansion draft. (Georgiev figures to be protected, and Shesterkin is ineligible for selection by the expansion Seattle Kraken.)

Kinkaid waited patiently for his chance to return to the NHL, and he gave credit to Rangers goalie coach Benoit Allaire for helping him rebuild his confidence and his game after a rough 2019-20 season.

"You never know what's going to happen in this league,’’ he said. "You see all the guys that started on the taxi squad here getting an opportunity and really seizing that opportunity. So, it happens all the time; there's a lot of games in very little days, so I kind of just waited, had a good attitude, being a good teammate and now kind of being lighthearted, keeping my head up and was just waiting and working on my game.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.