The New York Rangers are in Columbus tonight to take on the Blue Jackets as they look to halt their two-game skid where they haven’t scored, at all. The Rangers are in the middle of a 121 minute scoring drought. Their last goal was Rick Nash’s empty netter in San Jose with one minute remaining in regulation.
The Rangers are still without Derek Stepan, which means J.T. Miller will line up again as a center. Alain Vigneault messed with the lines and defense combos during the game last night in Boston, and with no practice today, we can’t really be sure what the Rangers lines will look like tonight. What we do know is that they need to get back to doing what they do best: Forechecking and using their speed to disrupt breakouts.
Luckily, the Jackets are probably the league’s unluckiest team this year. They’ve had injuries to pretty much everyone on their roster, and at one point were dressing more Springfield Falcons than Columbus Blue Jackets. But they are mostly healthy now, and are another one of those physical teams that sometimes give the Rangers issues.
What have the Blue Jackets done lately?
The Jackets have lost three in a row and are 5-5-0 in their last ten games. They are completely out of the playoff picture, with 39 points and sitting in seventh in the division. That said, they aren’t a team that should be overlooked, because everyone thought they would be in the thick of things this year. Luck derailed them, not lack of skill.
The injuries have played into the Blue Jackets’ inability to control puck possession throughout the season. They’ve been undone by their sub-50% possession (rolling five-game average below). The chart is a bit difficult to read, but the Rangers are the ones above 50%.
Their PDO has been getting better, and that’s likely due to the health of Sergei Bobrovsky. They had a big uptick in PDO when he came back. This one is also hard to read, the Rangers are the blue/red, and the Jackets are the blue/light blue:
Columbus’s Sytems
Under Todd Richards, the Blue Jackets run a 2-1-2 forecheck, but with less active defensemen and a lot of dump and chase. In the DZ, CBJ uses a low zone collapse, taking out shooting lanes and protecting the house. On special teams, they run a 1-3-1 power play, and a box penalty kill.
Rangers Lineup (unconfirmed)
Rick Nash-Derrick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Martin St. Louis
Carl Hagelin-Dominic Moore-Lee Stempniak
Tanner Glass-Kevin Hayes-Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Dan Boyle
Matt Hunwick-Kevin Klein
Henrik Lundqvist is in net tonight.
Scratches/Injuries: J.T. Miller (healthy), John Moore (healthy)
Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game.
Game time is 7pm on MSG.
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