The New York Rangers are back at MSG tonight to take on the Vancouver Canucks, looking to extend their winning streak to five games in a row. The Rangers have really stepped it up a notch without Henrik Lundqvist, putting up at least five goals in their last four games, and going 5-1-1 with Talbot in net (6-1-1 in February). They haven’t all been pretty, but they’ve been wins.
Wins, of course, are the most important aspect of this game. The Rangers need to keep pace with the Isles and the Penguins (and ahead of the Caps) to avoid that dreaded wild card spot. Tonight’s game is the first of six in a row against mediocre or bad teams, so –hopefully– this game continues a streak of W’s. Of course, the argument can be made that all of these are trap games, but let’s stay positive.
What have they done lately?
The Canucks are actually second in the Pacific Division with just 67 points in 56 games and a +11 goal differential. They are 6-4-0 in their last ten, and that has been good enough to keep them ahead of perennial playoff teams San Jose and Los Angeles. The Canucks are surprisingly good this year, and have been a solid puck possession team throughout the year, despite a rough patch in December that saw them tank to under 44% on a rolling ten-game average.
The Canucks are the top line here.
Of course, goaltending is a bit of a mess with the Eddie Lack/Ryan Miller tandem, as both are posting sub-.915% save-percentages this season. But despite that, their PDO is a bit above league average, around 102.
The Rangers are the top blue line.
Considering the poor goaltending and relatively high PDO, you expect a bit of a high SH% from the Canucks. They are right in line with the Rangers on their SH%, which is well above league average.
Almost 10% shooting rate, above league average. Rangers are the top line here.
One last chart looking at SV%, showing
SV% coming down to normal. The Rangers are the bottom blue line that’s been falling.
Canucks Systems
On the forecheck, the Canucks employ an overload 1-2-2, which is what the Rangers run. They also play a man-on-man defense depending on puck location. On special teams, they run a 1-3-1 power play and rotate between a box and diamond penalty kill depending on puck location.
Canucks Lines
Daniel Sedin-Henrik Sedin-Alex Burrows
Chris Higgins-Linden Vey-Radim Vrbata
Derek Dorsett-Shawn Matthias-Zack Kassian
Ronalds Kenins-Bo Horvat-Janick Hansen
Dan Hamhuis-Yanick Weber
Luca Sbisa-Alex Biega
Ryan Stanton-Adam Clendening
PP1: Burrows-Sedin-Sedin-Vrbata-Clendening
PP2: Dorsett-Matthias-Kassian-Sbisa-Biega
PK: Henrik, Hansen, Horvat, Higgins, Dorsett, Sbisa, Stanton, Hamhuis
Ryan Miller gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Rick Nash-Derek Stepan-Martin St. Louis
Chris Kreider-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello
Carl Hagelin-Kevin Hayes-J.T. Miller
Tanner Glass-Dominic Moore-Lee Stempniak
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Kevin Klein
John Moore-Dan Boyle
PP1: McDonagh, Stepan, Nash, Brassard, Zuccarello
PP2: Boyle, Girardi, Kreider, Hayes, MSL
PK: Stepan, Nash, Girardi, Staal, Moore, Fast, Hunwick, Boyle, Hagelin, Klein, McDonagh, MSL
Cam Talbot is in net.
Scratches/Injuries: Henrik Lundqvist (throat), Jesper Fast (leg), Matt Hunwick (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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