AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

The Rangers lost in St. Louis over the weekend, but completely dominated the game. If the Rangers continue to play like that, they will be very difficult to beat on any given night. Tonight it’s the defending Western Conference Champion San Jose Sharks coming to town.

The Rangers are without Dan Girardi and Pavel Buchnevich tonight, to go along with Oscar Lindberg and Kevin Klein on the injury list. In response, Alain Vigneault has juggled his lines and pairings. Antti Raanta also makes his season debut tonight.

Sharks Systems

Pete DeBoer is the new guy in San Jose, so their systems likely changed from last year. I haven’t watched them this year, but when DeBoer was with the Devils, he had the Devils playing a 1-2-2 forecheck which they would use aggressively in the offensive zone or passively in the neutral zone as a trap depending on game situation. In the defensive zone, Deboer employed a hybrid overload/zone defensive system depending on whether the puck is along the boards or at mid-ice. On special teams, the DeBoer used an umbrella/1-3-1 power play and a  box/diamond penalty kill.

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

Sharks Lines

Joe Pavelski-Joe Thornton-Tomas Hertl
Mikkel Boedker-Logan Couture-Joonas Donskoi
Patrick Marleau-Chris Tierney-Joel Ward
Melker Karlsson-Tommy Wingels-Matt Nieto

Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Justin Braun
Paul Martin-Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon-David Schlemko

PP1: Thornton-Pavelski-Marleau-Couture-Burns
PP2: Ward-Tierney-Donskoi-Vlasic-Martin

Martin Jones gets the start.

Rangers Lines:

Chris KreiderMika ZIbanejadRick Nash
Jimmy VeseyDerek StepanMats Zuccarello
Jesper FastKevin Hayes-J.T.Miller
Michael GrabnerJosh JoorisBrandon Pirri.

Ryan McDonaghNick Holden
Marc StaalAdam Clendening
Brady SkjeiDylan McIlrath.

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

Antti Raanta gets the start.

Injuries/Scratches: Oscar Lindberg (hip), Kevin Klein (back), Dan Girardi (hip), Pavel Buchnevich (back)

Crazy Prediction: A shutout for Raanta.

Game time is 7pm. Gifs will be on nyrgifs.com. Don’t forget to follow our Snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!

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