Henrik Lundqvist on special night at MSG: 'I don't know how I'm going to feel'

GREENBURGH, N.Y. – After a day off Tuesday, the Rangers practiced as usual Wednesday in preparation for another set of back-to-back games, beginning Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, with a game against the Blue Jackets.

But this isn't any run-of-the-mill back-to-back. No, not when the back end of it will be the night when Henrik Lundqvist’s No. 30 is retired to the Madison Square Garden ceiling before a game against the Minnesota Wild, and old pal Mats Zuccarello.

"I remember playing in a lot of those games, for [Mark] Messier, [Adam] Graves, for a lot of those guys,’’ Lundqvist told former teammate Steve Valiquette in an interview for MSG Network that will air Friday at 5:30 p.m. "I was on the ice when they were retiring their numbers. And it was a cool moment to be a part of that, to see them, to experience it and realize how much they meant to this organization."

"I don’t know how I’m going to feel. I know my closest friends and my entire family will be here. And that alone will make it very special for me. And then to have all the fans."

The game in Columbus is the first of four the Rangers will play before they enter the NHL All-Star break. And coach Gerard Gallant would like to win them all.

"Every game's a big game, but then we’ve got four to [play before] that couple of weeks' break after that, and it'd be nice to play really well and get some good wins in those four games, for sure,’’ Gallant said Wednesday.

After Columbus Thursday and Minnesota Friday, the Rangers will host the expansion Seattle Kraken for the first time, in a Sunday matinee at the Garden, before closing out the season’s first half with a home game Tuesday against the Florida Panthers. Then they are off for two weeks, before they return to play on Feb. 15 against the Boston Bruins.

Gallant said defenseman Patrik Nemeth would not accompany the team to Columbus, due to personal reasons. Nemeth missed four games earlier this month because of personal reasons, returning in the Jan. 10 game in Los Angeles. When he spoke to the media a few days later, he declined to reveal what the reasons were that caused him to miss time, but indicated that things had been settled, and everything was OK.

But before Monday’s 3-2 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings, Gallant hinted that one of his defensemen might have been "banged up,’’ and he might dress seven defensemen. He ended up dressing six defensemen, and Nemeth did not dress.

Notes & quotes: Like Nemeth, forward Filip Chytil did not play Monday and did not practice Wednesday. Gallant reiterated what he said Monday morning, that Chytil’s status is "day-to-day.’’ The coach said "there’s a chance’’ Chytil, who is suffering from a lower-body injury, could play Thursday. He didn’t say if Chytil was making the trip, though … Gallant declined to say which goaltender, Igor Shesterkin or Alexandar Georgiev, will start in Columbus.

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.