The Rangers escaped with a win against Washington, and are now 5-0-2 in their last seven games. They are in Denver tonight to take on the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are pretty bad this year, as expected. They can score goals (33 in 12 games), but allow even more (36) due to porous defense and shaky goaltending.
With the Rangers rolling and the Avs struggling, on paper this seems to be a mismatch. The Rangers are incredibly deep and should be able to exploit poor goaltending and bad defense. Even against good teams, the Rangers are able to exploit teams that can’t match their depth. The Avs also played last night, so they should be a bit tired.
Fun fact: This is one of those games where we get to say, “Oh wow, the Avs still have Alex Tanguay?”
What have they done lately?
Semyon Varlamov has been at the heart of the issues for the Avs, with a .890 SV%, one of the worst in the league. They are by far the worst possession team in the league, at almost Buffalo-esque levels from last year. They can score, though. So if given chances, they can burn you. That said, they aren’t a very strong team.
The Rangers don’t get Varlamov tonight. They get Berra, as the Avs are on the second of a back-to-back.
Avs Systems
Patrick Roy has his boys running a very aggressive style of play. On the forecheck it is a straight 2-1-2 without sitting on leads. In the defensive zone, the Avs play straight man-on-man, so expect a lot of pressure and rushed/hurried decisions. On special teams, the Avs run a 1-3-1 power play and a hybrid penalty kill with very active defensemen.
Avs Lines
Alex Tanguay-Nathan MacKinnon-Jarome Iginla
Gabriel Landeskog-Carl Soderberg-Matt Duchene
Dennis Everberg-Ben Street-Jack Skille
Cody McLeod-Mikhail Grigorenko-Blake Comeau
Francois Beauchemin-Erik Johnson
Nick Holden-Tyson Barrie
Brad Stuart-Brandon Gormley
PP1: Iginla-MacKinnon-Soderberg-Tanguay-Barrie
PP2: Landeskog-Duchene-Grigorenko-Barrie-Beauchemin
PK: MacKinnon, Landeskog, Soderberg, McLeod
Reto Berra gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Rick Nash–Derick Brassard–Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–J.T. Miller
Oscar Lindberg–Kevin Hayes–Viktor Stalberg
Jarret Stoll–Dominic Moore–Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Kevin Klein
Keith Yandle–Dylan McIlrath
PP1: Nash-Stepan-Zuccarello, Brassard-McDonagh
PP2: Kreider-Hayes-Lindberg, Yandle-Klein
PK: Stepan, Nash, Moore, Lindberg, Girardi, McDonagh, Staal, Klein
Henrik Lundqvist is in net.
Scratches/Injuries: Emerson Etem (healthy), Dan Boyle (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: The top-six gets six points combined.
Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game. Game time is 9pm on MSG. All gifs will be on nyrgifs.com.
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