Less than two full years after being selected by the New York Rangers, Mackenzie Skapski will make his National Hockey League debut in net against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
The decision, coming from head coach Alain Vigneault, comes after the Rangers lost to the Vancouver Canucks in a shootout on Thursday. Cam Talbot got the start in that game, allowing four goals on 28 shots in regulation, and two more goals in the deciding skills competition.
Vigneault said he had come to a decision last night following his team’s overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden, but that he had no spoke to either Skapski or Cam Talbot, who had started eight games in a row following a vascular injury to Henrik Lundqvist late last month.
Mackenzie Skapski #NYR with @TheAHL Hartford this season: 12-7-3, 2.38, .914, 2 SO. Last start was Jan. 31. #NYRvsBUF
— AHL Communications (@AHLPR) February 20, 2015
It’s been a whirlwind season for the 20-year-old Skapski, who started with Greenville in the ECHL, before being recalled to Hartford in the American Hockey League.
Skapski was taken by the Rangers in the sixth round, 170th overall, in the 2013 NHL Draft.