AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

The Rangers have led for all 150+ minutes of this Stanley Cup, but yet find themselves in a 2-0 hole coming home to MSG. They will need to find a way to hold on to two-goal leads, and to find a way to put the Kings away when they do have these leads. This is a must win game.

Daryl Sutter has the Kings playing a system similar to that of John Tortorella’s Rangers. They generally run an aggressive overload 2-1-2 forecheck (forecheckers attack the same side of the ice) and they play a 2-1-2 zone defense off the wall (two guys take the hit zone, one takes the support zone, two have the slot). Once the puck moves up high, depending on the matchup, they’ll attack the blue line or collapse their forwards.  They play a hybrid penalty kill, and a 1-3-1/modified umbrella on the powerplay.

Kevin did a complete preview and breakdown of this series here. Justin looked at Jonathan Quick and some deficiencies in his game here.

Rangers Lines:

Forwards

Chris KreiderDerek StepanRick Nash
Carl HagelinBrad RichardsMartin St. Louis
Benoit PouliotDerick BrassardMats Zuccarello
Brian BoyleDominic MooreDerek Dorsett

Defense

Ryan McDonaghDan Girardi
Marc StaalAnton Stralman
John MooreKevin Klein

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: J.T. Miller (healthy), Justin Falk (healthy), Dan Carcillo (suspension), Raphael Diaz (healthy)

Game time is 8pm on NBCSN. Don’t forget to check out our Rangers Tickets link for deals to attend games.

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