AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
The Rangers have now lost three in a row, and are fresh off a pretty ugly loss to the Devils yesterday. It was a pretty lackluster effort against a bad team. Now they have a very good San Jose team that is pretty much scoring at will with a goalie that seems at home with his new team. Luckily for the Rangers, they are getting the Sharks without Logan Couture. Unfortunately, their defense is hemorrhaging shots.
This will be the second game with the new defensive pairings, and hopefully will yield some better results. I’m not even talking wins at the moment, I’m talking allowing fewer shots and scoring chances. The Rangers are one of the worst in the league right now when it comes to shots allowed. More consistent play and wins will come with better defense.
What have they done lately?
The Sharks are off to a great start, riding a white-hot Martin Jones to a 4-1-0 record, allowing just eight goals in the process while scoring seventeen. They are also one of the best possession teams in the league. Even more impressive is that they are 3-1-0 on this eastern road trip, having played just one game at home. This is a good team off to a hot start.
Sharks Systems
Pete DeBoer is the new guy in San Jose, so their systems likely changed from last year. I haven’t watched them this year, but when DeBoer was with the Devils, he had the Devils playing a 1-2-2 forecheck which they would use aggressively in the offensive zone or passively in the neutral zone as a trap depending on game situation. In the defensive zone, Deboer employed a hybrid overload/zone defensive system depending on whether the puck is along the boards or at mid-ice. On special teams, the DeBoer used an umbrella/1-3-1 power play and a box/diamond penalty kill.
For more on these systems, check out our Hockey Systems page.
Sharks Lines
Nikolay Goldobin-Joe Thornton-Joe Pavelski
Patrick Marleau-Tomas Hertl-Joel Ward
Matt Nieto-Chris Tierny-Tommy Wingels
Barclary Goodrow-Ben Smith-Mike Brown
Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Justin Braun
Brendan Dillon-Brent Burns
Dylan Demelo-Matt Tennyson
Martin Jones gets the start.
PP1: Thornton, Pavelski, Marleau, Tierny, Burns
PP2: Ward, Hertl, Wingels, Vlasic, Tennyson
PK: Wingels, Nieto, Pavelski, Marleau, Tierny, Ward, Burns, Vlasic, Braun, Dillon, Tennyson
Rangers Lines
Rick Nash–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider–Derick Brassard–Jesper Fast
Oscar Lindberg–Kevin Hayes–J.T. Miller
Viktor Stalberg–Dominic Moore–Jarret Stoll
Ryan McDonagh–Kevin Klein
Keith Yandle–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Dan Boyle
PP1: Yandle, Boyle, Nash, Stepan, Zuccarello
PP2: McDonagh, Miller, Kreider, Brassard, Hayes
PK: Stepan, Nash, Moore, Lindberg, Girardi, McDonagh, Staal, Klein
Antti Raanta is in net.
Scratches/Injuries: Tanner Glass (healthy), Emerson Etem (healthy), Dylan McIlrath (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Raanta gets his first win as a Ranger.
Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game. Game time is 7pm on MSG. All gifs will be on nyrgifs.com.
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