Admittedly - and understandably - Gilmour felt the jitters Friday night when he made his NHL debut against the Flames at Madison Square Garden.
"Honestly, it's hard to put into words," he said with a smile when thinking back to the game five days ago. But since then, the 23-year-old is getting his feet under him, and a big reason for that is his deployment on the power play.
Gilmour is averaging 2:11 of ice time per game on the power play, which is the third-highest among any Ranger defenseman this season, albeit also the smallest sample size.
But coach Alain Vigneault mentioned Gilmour's success on the power play in Hartford as a reason why he was called up last week following the injury to Ryan McDonagh. Gilmour, for his part, said his usage on special teams has helped ease him into the NHL, and it of course paid off Tuesday with the goal.
"Honestly, it's everything for my confidence," Gilmour told NYRangers.com of him playing on the power play. "It shows the team has confidence in me to perform on special teams. Especially in this league with how important special teams are, it makes the difference. The fact that they have me out there and trust me out there definitely helps me to believe in myself and makes me feel comfortable out there."
Gilmour, whom the Rangers signed as a college free agent in June 2016, has 10 shots on goal through three games as a Ranger, the most of any defenseman during those three contests. That aspect of his game goes hand in hand with his success with the man advantage.
"I like to shoot the puck a lot," he said. "The goal [against Minnesota] came on the power play and I got some power play looks last night. That's where the offense really came for me in Hartford was on special teams. Definitely fortunate to play the power play with such skilled players. They got me the puck and all I had to do was shoot it."
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In addition to the return of Chris Kreider at practice on Wednesday, Pavel Buchnevich was also skating with his teammates in a non-contact practice sweater.
Coach Alain Vigneault said if everything goes well tomorrow when Buchnevich skates with the extras prior to the game against the Islanders, Buchnevich could be back in a normal practice jersey Friday afternoon.
Vigneault said defenseman Marc Staal is skating on his own and progressing, while McDonagh remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
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The Rangers are in the middle of a stretch of seven games in 13 days stretch, including a back-to-back this weekend and another next Thursday and Friday. Vigneault said with the upcoming five games in eight days, rookie Alexandar Georgiev could see game action, though the coach did not say when that would be.
