Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
The Rangers, fresh off a disastrous weekend where they only managed to get one point against two Eastern Conference playoff teams, are now facing a difficult journey out west. It starts in Anaheim tonight, goes to LA tomorrow night, and ends in San Jose on Saturday. The Rangers have had major fails over the past four months, and need to start playing the way the did in January if they are to right this ship.
Luckily for them, the Ducks are a bit shorthanded. They are without Kevin Bieksa and Sami Vatanen tonight, so that blue line can be exploited. The Rangers feast on weak blue lines simply because their forward depth is great. But the Ducks have been on an unbelievable run and have won something like 700 games in a row, or something close to that. This is a strong test for the Rangers, who will need to show everyone they can play better than they’ve been showing.
Admin note: No gifs for this game, and no goal breakdown either. These late games are absolute killers. A 7pm game recap usually gets done by 11pm. When you add three and a half hours to it, that’s 2:30am. Sorry folks, none of us are able to stay up that late.
Ducks Systems
Bruce Boudreau’s Ducks employ an aggressive 1-2-2 forecheck. They are not afraid to get the D involved in the rush and will look to fly the zone early if there’s a chance for a break. Once they get a late lead, the Ducks tend to sit back use their 1-2-2 more conservatively. Overall, this is comparable to AV’s system.
They are moderately aggressive when it comes to defensive zone schemes sending a forward to challenge the points while everyone else collapses in the zone and overload the half boards. Their powerplay strategy is a 1-3-1. Their penalty kill formation is generally a diamond force, which sends a player high to challenge the point.
Ducks Lines
David Perron-Ryan Getzlaf-Brandon Pirri
Jamie McGinn-Rickard Rakell-Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano-Ryan Kesler-Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie-Shawn Horcoff-Ryan Garbutt
Cam Fowler-Simon Despres
Clayton Stoner-Josh Manson
Hampus Lindholm-Korbinian Holzer
PP1: Perron-Getzlaf-Perry-Rakell-Fowler
PP2: McGinn-KeslerSilfverberg-Despres-Lindholm
PK: Kesler, Silfverberg, Cogliano, Horcoff, Fowler, Manson, Lindholm, Despres
John Gibson gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Jesper Fast
Rick Nash-Derick Brassard–Mats Zuccarello
Kevin Hayes–Eric Staal–J.T. Miller
Tanner Glass–Dominic Moore–Viktor Stalberg
Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Keith Yandle–Kevin Klein
Marc Staal–Dan Boyle
PP1: Yandle-Klein-Miller-Hayes-Fast
PP2: Zucc-Boyle-Kreider-Stepan-Brassard
PK: Stepan, Moore, Nash, Fast, Glass, McDonagh, Staal, Klein, Girardi
Antti Raanta gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Oscar Lindberg (healthy), Dylan McIlrath (knee)
Crazy Prediction: The Rangers dismantle the Ducks.
Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game. Game time is 10:30pm on MSG. All gifs will be on nyrgifs.com.
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