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 Kreider–Mika ZIbanejad–Rick Nash
Jimmy Vesey–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Jesper Fast–Kevin Hayes-J.T.Miller
Michael Grabner–Josh Jooris–Brandon Pirri.
Ryan McDonagh–Nick Holden
Marc Staal–Adam Clendening
Brady Skjei–Dylan 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.
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