Game 34: Continue good process, keep wins coming

Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

After a strong win in Dallas the other night, the Rangers are in Nashville looking to continue their ride of solid process on the ice. With the good process has come wins and points in the standings, and perhaps more importantly has helped decrease the impact of the PDO crash the Rangers are going through. The shooting success has died off, as expected, but the improved process compared to a few weeks ago has been a nice relief.

As for Nashville, P.K. Subban was not at practice today, and is likely a game time decision. Even if he’s out the Preds still have a solid blue line, and their forwards have some pretty decent skill up and down the lineup. This might be another game that comes down to goaltending. A re-energized Henrik Lundqvist will look to continue his solid play in Dallas, while Nashville sends a rookie between the pipes.

Preds Systems

Peter Laviolette likes to have his team throw two different forechecking looks at the opposition. The first look is the 2-1-2 forecheck, and once the they get a lead, they tend to switch to a more conservative 2-3 left wing lock. Both systems send two forecheckers into the zone, but the 2-3 leaves one forward high in the zone, while the 2-1-2 sends an additional forechecker in deep. The 2-12 also allows defensemen to join the forecheck.

In the defensive zone, the Laviolette play a low zone collapse. This creates a logjam in the high-priced real estate, but gives some leeway at the point for puck movement. On special teams, the Preds play an umbrella powerplay and a hybrid penalty kill.

Preds Lines

Filip Forsberg-Ryan Johansen-James Neal
Kevin Fiala-Mike Ribiero-Victor Arvidsson
Colin Wilson-Mike Fischer-Craig Smith
Colton Scissions-Calle Jarnkrok-Austin Watson

Roman Josi-Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm-Peter Granberg
Matt Irwin-Yannick Weber

PP1: Fisher-Fiala-Johansen-Josi-Ekholm
PP2: Ribiero-Smith-Forsberg-Ellis-Granberg

Juuse Saros is in net.

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