Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
After a strong win in Tampa Bay, the Rangers failed to show up in Florida and were dealt a 3-0 shutout loss by the surprising Panthers. Now they are back in New York to take on the Dallas Stars who basically score at will. They have 144 goals this season, and the next closest team is Washington at 121. That’s simply amazing. This team is talented, deep, and really friggin good.
Although Dallas scores a lot, they also allow a ton of goals. Their goaltending is average at best, as the Kari Lehtonen/Antti Niemi duo has been porous. They’ve allowed 107 goals thus far, and it’s mostly on the goaltending at this point, since neither has a .920 SV% (Niemi is best at a .918 SV%). The Stars can be beat, but it requires a magnificent defensive effort to do so.
Stars Systems
Lindy Ruff has the Stars playing an overload 1-2-2 forecheck which can be deployed aggressively or conservatively depending on the game situation (e.g., time left in period, score, etc.). In the defensive zone, Dallas tends to overload when the puck is along the boards, but they’ll switch to a zone defense when the puck is at the points. The Stars also run a variation of a 1-3-1 power play and diamond/box hybrid penalty kill. These are familiar styles of play that the Rangers should be used to at this point.
Stars Lines
Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Patrick Sharp
Mattias Janmark-Jason Spezza-Valeri Nichushkin
Antoine Roussel-Cody Eakin-Colton Sceviour
Radek Faksa-Vernon Fiddler-Patrick Eaves
Alex Goligoski-John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya-Jason Demers
Jyrki Jokipakka-Jordie Benn
PP1: Sharp-Spezza-Seguin-Benn-Klingberg
PP2: Fiddler-Eaves-Faksa-Demers-Goligoski
PK: Sceviour, Fiddler, Eakin Benn, Faksa, Demers, Oduya, Benn, Goligoski, Jokipakka
Antti Niemi gets the start.
Rangers Lines
J.T. Miller–Derick Brassard–Mats Zuccarello
Jayson Megna-Derek Stepan–Rick Nash
Oscar Lindberg–Kevin Hayes–Jesper Fast
Tanner Glass–Dominic Moore–Viktor Stalberg
Ryan McDonagh–Kevin Klein
Marc Staal–Dan Boyle
Keith Yandle–Dan Girardi
PP1: Nash-Zuccarello-Brassard-Boyle-McDonagh
PP2: Kreider-Miller-Stepan-Yandle-Klein
PK: Nash, Stepan, Moore, Lindberg, Fast, McDonagh, Staal, Klein, Yandle, Girardi
Henrik Lundqvist is in net.
Scratches/Injuries: Emerson Etem (healthy), Dylan McIlrath (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Dallas only scores once.
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