rangers kings 2015

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

The Rangers are on a roll at the moment, winning five in a row. They are showing tremendous resiliency, as they are doing this without their two best players, Ryan McDonagh and Rick Nash. Others have stepped up, and the process has been much better. They had a slight blip on Wednesday, but Henrik Lundqvist stood tall when they needed him.

Los Angeles is the cream of the Pacific, but that division is a tire fire. All told, they are still a solid team though. The Isles beat them yesterday, so while the Kings are tired, they won’t want to post an oh-fer against the New York teams. LA is a deep team that gives the Rangers fits. If a depleted Penguins team was a barometer for the Rangers, this is a better one.

Kings Systems

Daryl Sutter has the Kings playing a system similar to that of John Tortorella’s Rangers. They generally run an aggressive overload 2-1-2 forecheck (forecheckers attack the same side of the ice) and they play a 2-1-2 zone defense off the wall (two guys take the hit zone, one takes the support zone, two have the slot). Once the puck moves up high, depending on the matchup, they’ll attack the blue line or collapse their forwards.  They play a hybrid penalty kill, and a 1-3-1/modified umbrella on the powerplay.

Kings Lines

Milan Lucic-Anze Kopitar-Dustin Brown
Dwight King-Jeff Carter-Tyler Toffoli
Marian Gaborik-Vincent Levacalier-Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford-Andy Andreoff-Jordan Nolan

Brayden McNabb-Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin-Luke Schenn
Kevin Gravel-Alec Martinez

PP1: Carter-Kopitar-Toffoli-Doughty-Muzzin
PP2: Gaborik-Lecavalier-Lucic-McNabb-Martinez

PK: Toffoli, Carter, Lewis, King, Kopitar, Brown, McNabb, Muzzin, Doughty, Martinez, Schenn

Jhonas Enroth gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris KreiderDerek StepanMats Zuccarello
JT MillerDerick BrassardJesper Fast
Oscar LindbergKevin HayesViktor Stalberg
Daniel PailleDominic MooreTanner Glass

Keith YandleDan Girardi
Marc StaalKevin Klein
Dan BoyleDylan McIlrath

PP1: Yandle-Klein-Miller-Hayes-Fast
PP2: Zucc-Boyle-Kreider-Stepan-Brassard

PK: Stepan, Moore, Lindberg, Fast, Boyle, Staal, Yandle, Girardi

Antti Raanta gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Ryan McDonagh (consussion), Rick Nash (leg)

Crazy Prediction: Five in a row!

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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