Rangers’ Georgiev makes first public statements on DeAngelo incident!

New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton made it clear that defenseman Tony DeAngelo has played his final game with the club.  He sits at home as he awaits a trade while the Rangers keep fighting to clinch a playoff spot in this shortened season. 

What led to DeAngelo’s expulsion from the Blue Shirts is an incident that took place with goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, as they were involved in an altercation that was quickly broken up by a teammate.

On Tuesday, Georgiev finally opened up to the New York Post on what happened, making his first public statements on the incident. But he didn’t seem willing to say much… 

“I don’t want to elaborate on what happened. I just want to keep it in the past,” Georgiev said in his first public statements since the altercation. “Emotions happened, and that’s all I can say.

“I wish Tony the best moving forward.”

What we know about the altercation is that DeAngelo made “made a disparaging comment to Georgiev as the Rangers left the ice following the Penguins’ 5-4 overtime victory, during which the goaltender had hardly been at his best. Georgiev responded with a punch to the defenseman with his blocker before K’Andre Miller broke up the scuffle.”

Georgiev has played backup for the past three games, which has some folks wonder if he’s also getting punished by the Rangers for the incident. 

“I think [Alex] has handled [the fallout] it well,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “It’s been over a week now and I think we’ve all moved past it. Our guys are in a good spot and he’s in a good spot. He’s looked good in practice.

“I think it’s important for him to get in the net for a variety of reasons. We’re going to need him, one, and two, he wants to play. I think this will help him to continue to move forward here but I think he’s moved forward anyway.”

Georgiev is right to forget and comment very little on the altercation with DeAngelo. He better focus on getting better this season after going  0-2-1 in those last three starts with a 4.50 GAA and .854 save percentage.