The Rangers are back home tonight to take on the Florida Panthers, who are stuck in a fit of mediocrity at the moment. But while the game is the focus of the players, most fans have their eyes on the return of Keith Yandle and Dylan McIlrath. Yandle was shipped to Florida before the draft and eventually signed there, while McIlrath was traded this month.
But here’s the irony. The Rangers traded Steven Kampfer to Florida to open roster space for Anthony Duclair. Duclair was traded in the deal for Yandle. McIlrath was traded to Florida and got Kampfer in return. Now McIlrath lives with Yandle. Full circle.
As for the team itself, Florida is dealing with injuries to Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad, which has crushed their forward depth, and their bottom-six is pretty bad. Their top four on defense is pretty solid, but the bottom pair can be exploited with speed.
Panthers Systems
Gerard Gallant has the Panthers running a 1-2-2 forecheck, which they will use aggressively or conservatively pending the game situation (e.g., the score, puck location, etc.). In their own end, the Panthers play a straight up zone defense. For special teams, Gallant runs a standard umbrella power play and diamond force/box penalty kill system.
Panthers Lines
Jussi Jokinen-Alex Barkov-Jaromir Jagr
Jonathan Marchessault-Vincent Trochek-Reilly Smith
Seth Griffith-Denis Malgin-Colton Sceviour
Jared McCann-Derek MacKenzie-Shawn Thornton
Keith Yandle-Jason Demers
Mark Pysyk-Aaron Ekblad
Michael Matheson-Dylan McIlrath
PP1: Jagr-Marchessault-Barkov-Ekblad-Yandle
PP2: Smith-Trochek-McCann-Demers-Matheson
James Reimer gets the start.
Rangers Lines:
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Derek Stepan–Rick Nash
Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–J.T. Miller
Oscar Lindberg–Brandon Pirri–Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Brady Skjei
Nick Holden–Kevin Klein
PP1: DJ ZBad-Miller-Pirri-Zucc-McDonagh
PP2: Nash-Stepan-Vesey-Hayes-Girardi
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Josh Jooris (shoulder), Adam Clendening (healthy), Pavel Buchnevich (upper body)
Crazy Prediction: Yandle and McIlrath get booed by the crowd.
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