Game 2: Does speed kill against a good team?

Photo: AP

The Rangers had their new forwards on display on Thursday night, as speed killed the Islanders. It wasn’t without a little drama, as the Rangers defense is still in a state of disarray, but overall the Rangers are certainly improved up front. But now they are in St. Louis to take on a very good Blues team that appears to be on the cusp every season.

The Blues have a strong, puck moving blue line to go with their numerous skilled forwards. Goaltending is good enough in St. Louis to get by, and the only thing really holding the Blues back is the quality of their division. The Central is again a dogfight, and I’d venture a bet that St. Louis would win at least two of the other three divisions without much competition.

Blues Systems

On the ice, Ken Hitchcock has the Blues running an aggressive 2-1-2 overload forecheck, but tend to switch to a 1-2-2 with a lead late in the period, though the way the Rangers are playing there’s probably no point on sitting back. They are fairly aggressive when it comes to defensive zone schemes, playing an overload style and collapsing down when the puck is down low. Their power play strategy is a 1-3-1, and their penalty kill formation is a hybrid.

Blues Lines

Robby Fabbri-Paul Stastny-Alex Steen
David Perron-Jori Lehtera-Vladimir Tarasenko
Magnus Paajarvi-Patrik Berglund-Nail Yakupov
Scottie Upshall-Kyle Brodziak-Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester-Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson-Kevin Shattenkirk
Joel Edmundson-Colton Parayko

PP1: Tarsenko-Steen-Stastny-Pietrangelo-Shattenkirk
PP2: Fabbri-Berglund-Lehtera-Perron-Parayko

Carter Hutton gets the start.

Rangers Lines:

Jimmy Vesey–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Pavel Buchnevich
J.T. Miller–Kevin Hayes–Rick Nash
Michael Grabner–Brandon Pirri–Jesper Fast

Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Adam Clendening

PP1: Pirri-Buchnevich-Zibanejad-Kreider-McDonagh
PP2: Vesey-Stepan-Nash-Zuccarello-Staal

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Injuries/Scratches: Oscar Lindberg (hip), Kevin Klein (back), Josh Jooris (healthy), Dylan McIlrath (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: Both Vesey and Buchnevich score in their NHL debuts.

Game time is 8pm. Gifs will be on nyrgifs.com. Don’t forget to follow our Snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!