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The Rangers played a very good game against Washington on Friday night, but came out on the losing end after Philipp Grubauer made 38 saves. If the Rangers continue to play like they did on Friday night, they shouldn’t have a problem beating a lot of teams in the Eastern Conference. They face a tough matchup in Tampa Bay tonight, and the Rangers dodged a bullet with Anders Lindback starting tonight instead of the Team USA bound Ben Bishop. That said, beating backups hasn’t been a club forte this season.
Jon Cooper has the Lightning playing a pretty similar system as the Rangers. They run an aggressive 1-2-2 forecheck with a lot of pinching from their defensemen. Once they get a two goal lead, they tend to sit back in the neutral zone with a more passive 1-2-2. In the defensive zone, they mix man-on-man and zone coverage. On special teams, they still run a 1-3-1 power play and a diamond/box hybrid penalty kill.
Rangers Lineup:
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash
Brad Richards-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello
Carl Hagelin-J.T. Miller-Benoit Pouliot
Brian Boyle-Dom Moore-Derek Dorsett
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
John Moore-Michael Del Zotto
Connor Allen-Justin Falk
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Scratches: Ryan Callahan (knee), Marc Staal (concussion), Anton Stralman (wrist), Taylor Pyatt (healthy)
Game time is 7pm tonight on MSG. Don’t forget to check out our Rangers Tickets link for deals to attend games.
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