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The Rangers played a very strong game last night, but lost the coin flip that is the shootout. Such is life. The big thing to take away from that loss is that it was the best game they’ve played all season. That performance will beat most of the teams in the NHL. Consistency has been lacking for the Rangers, so continuing that strong play is critical going forward. Also worth noting: It’s December, so the Rangers realized it’s hockey season again. This happens on an annual basis. Kind of weird.

The Avs are a train wreck right now. Rumors are they are looking to trade Tyson Barrie and Matt Duchene, which makes absolutely no sense to me. But hey, if they want to send them to the Rangers, I’m all for it. There aren’t many players on the roster I wouldn’t deal for Duchene. I can’t imagine a world where the Avs had Duchene, ROR, Stastny, and MacKinnon and only kept one of them. But hey, this is what happens when the team is run poorly.

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

Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Matt Duchene
Alex Tanguay-Mikhail Grigorenko-Jarome Iginla
Cody McLeod-Carl Soderberg-Blake Comeau
John Mitchell-Chris Wagner-Jack Skille

Francois Beauchemin-Erik Johnson
Nick Holden-Tyson Barrie
Nate Guenin-Brandon Gormley

PP1: Iginla-MacKinnon-Duchene-Landeskog-Barrie
PP2: Comeau-Duchene-MacKinnon-Barrie-Beauchemin

PK: Soderberg, McLeod, Comeau, Grigorenko, MacKinnon, Landeskog, Duchene, Johnson, Beauchemin, Holden, Guenin

Semyon Varlamov gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Rick NashDerick BrassardMats Zuccarello
Chris KreiderOscar LindbergJesper Fast
J.T. MillerKevin Hayes–Tanner Glass
Dominic MooreJarret Stoll–Viktor Stalberg

Ryan McDonaghDan Girardi
Marc StaalDan Boyle
Keith YandleDylan McIlrath

PP1: Nash-??-Zuccarello, Brassard-McDonagh
PP2: Kreider-Hayes-Lindberg, Yandle-??

PK: Nash, Stoll, Lindberg, Moore, Fast, Girardi, McDonagh, Staal, Boyle

Antti Raanta is in net.

Scratches/Injuries: Derek Stepan (ribs), Emerson Etem (sick), Kevin Klein (abdominal strain)

Crazy Prediction: Glass scores (leaving this here until he does).

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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