rangers devils

AP Photo/John Minchillo

After a great start to the preseason, the Rangers are back in action tonight against the Devils. Much of the focus will again be on the top line of Vesey-Hayes-Nash. Similar to the Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich line, this is something that Alain Vigneault is at least experimenting with as a possible regular season line. Buchnevich, by the way, is playing again tonight, as is Brandon Pirri.

The blue line is a bit muddled. Three guys playing tonight are expected to be on the opening night roster in some capacity. McIlrath is getting his second straight game after scoring and looking overall solid on Tuesday. For some odd reason I think he’s on the outside looking in, so he will need another solid performance tonight.

If you need a recap of what type of hockey Alain Vigneault has the Rangers playing, catch up here.

Devils Systems

John Hynes has his club running a 1-2-2 forecheck, a low zone collapse, an umbrealla powerplay and a hybrid penalty kill. These are standard systems across the board, and are not very aggressive in nature. The Devils will look to sit and force turnovers in the neutral zone on the forecheck, then collapse to block shots and defend the high priced real estate in the defensive zone. Considering the team, conservative is probably his best bet.

For more on these systems, check out our Hockey Systems page.

Devils Lines

Mike Cammalleri-Travis Zajac-Nick Lappin
Pavel Zacha-Sergey Kalinin-Beau Bennett
Brian Gibbons-Vernon Fiddler-Devante Smith-Pelley
Blake Coleman-Mike McLeod-Blake Pietila

Nothing else has been released.

Rangers Lines

Jimmy Vesey-Kevin Hayes-Rick Nash
Nathan Gerbe-Brandon Pirri-Pavel Buchnevich
Michael Grabner-Marek Hrivik-Jesper Fast
Adam Tambellini-Maxim Lapierre-Nicklas Jensen

Nick Holden-Kevin Klein
Ryan Graves-Chris Summers
John Gilmour-Dylan McIlrath

Antti Raanta
Mackenzie Skapski

Game time is 7pm on MSG. Gifs will be on nyrgifs.com.

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