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 Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
JT Miller–Derick Brassard–Jesper Fast
Oscar Lindberg–Kevin Hayes–Viktor Stalberg
Daniel Paille–Dominic Moore–Tanner Glass
Keith Yandle–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Kevin Klein
Dan Boyle–Dylan 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!
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