Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
After winning three in a row, the Rangers’ offense dried up at MSG as they lost to the Blackhawks and snapped their streak. Now the Rangers are in Dallas to take on a very potent Stars offense. I say potent because their 81 goals are actually middle of the road, but that top line can score almost at will. Their defense and goaltending has been killing them, and it’s why they are trailing teams like Edmonton and Calgary.
With a defense and goaltender that are ripe for the picking, the Rangers are getting healthy at the perfect time. Rick Nash will be back in the lineup tonight, hopefully to bring some balance to the force top-six. The Stars are at the bottom of the league with 98 goals allowed. It would be great to see the Rangers light them up early and often. But remember, Dallas can score.
Stars Systems
Lindy Ruff has the Stars playing an overload 1-2-2 forecheck which can be deployed aggressively or conservatively depending on the game situation (e.g., time left in period, score, etc.). In the defensive zone, Dallas tends to overload when the puck is along the boards, but they’ll switch to a zone defense when the puck is at the points. The Stars also run a variation of a 1-3-1 power play and diamond/box hybrid penalty kill. These are familiar styles of play that the Rangers should be used to at this point.
Stars Lines
Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Jason Spezza
Antoine Roussel-Radek Faksa-Brett Ritchie
Lauri Korpikoski-Cody Eakin-Patrick Eaves
Jiri Hudler-Drew Shore-Adam Cracknell
Esa Lindell-John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya-Jordie Benn
Dan Hamhuis-Stephen Johns
PP1: Benn-Spezza-Seguin-Eaves-Klingberg
PP2: Faksa-Roussell-Ritchie-Hamhuis-Johns
Antti Niemi gets the start.
Rangers Lines:
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Rick Nash–Kevin Hayes–J.T. Miller
Jimmy Vesey–Oscar Lindberg–Jesper Fast
Michael Grabner-Marek Hrivik–Brandon Pirri
Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Kevin Klein
PP1: Kreider-Stepan-Pirri-Zucc-McDonagh
PP2: Miller-Vesey-Hayes-Skjei-Klein
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Mika Zibanejad (broken leg), Pavel Buchnevich (back spasms), Matt Puempel (concussion), Adam Clendening (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Nash gets a hat trick in his return.
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