Game 31: Play defense

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Last night’s game was a disaster. Against any other team, the Rangers would have lost 7-0, but since it was Edmonton, they were in the game the whole time. The defense needs to be much better tonight in Calgary. Of course that shouldn’t be too hard, since the defense really can’t get much worse than what we saw last night. That and Calgary is pretty terrible too.

The Flames have a pretty decent blue line and some solid skill up front, but have awful goaltending and depth, making them the perfect team for the Rangers to right the ship. Last night’s stinker aside, the Rangers have actually played fairly well this month. Assuming they can get it together tonight, then they should be able to salvage this western Canada road trip with at least one win.

Flames Systems

Bob Hartley has the Flames running a 1-2-2 forecheck that can be used aggressively or conservatively depending on the game situation (time left in period, score, puck location, etc.).  In the DZ, Calgary uses a low zone collapse, taking out shooting lanes and keeping things in tight. On special teams, they run a 1-3-1 and a diamond penalty kill.

Flames Lines

Johnny Gaudreau-Sean Monahan-David Jones
Sam Bennett-Markus Granlund-Jiri Hudler
Mason Raymond-Mikael Backlund-Michael Frolik
Michael Ferland-Matt Stajan-Joe Colborne

Mark Giordano-T.J. Brodie
Kris Russell-Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Wideman-Deryk Engelland

PP1: Gaudreau-Backlund-Monahan-Giordano-Wideman
PP2: Raymond-Colborne-Bennett-Brodie-Hamilton

PK: Stajan, Monahan, Frolik, Backlund, Hudler, Giordano, Brodie, Wideman, Engelland

Jonas Hiller gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris Kreider–Oscar Lindberg–Rick Nash
Kevin Hayes–Derick Brassard–Mats Zuccarello
J.T. Miller–Dominic Moore–Jesper Fast
Tanner Glass–Jarret Stoll–Emerson Etem

Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Dan Boyle
Keith Yandle–Dylan 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), Viktor Stalberg (healthy), 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 9pm on MSG. All gifs will be on nyrgifs.com.