Game 39: Soft spot in the schedule

AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

The Rangers have finally hit a soft spot in the schedule, with a hard fought –albeit relatively sloppy– win against Ottawa the other night to kick things off. Now they are in Glendale to take on the pretty terrible Arizona Coyotes. And I do mean terrible, they have 27 points this season. The Colorado Avalanche, the Saturday night opponent, have 25 points.

Suffice it to say, this is the time when the Rangers need to start focusing on proper process again, as they’ve been slacking over the past few games. They can get away with it against the Senators, Avs, and Yotes, but playoff teams will run all over them. But proper process also needs to be met with consistency.

There is no reason why the Rangers shouldn’t beat the Yotes, especially when you look at the team they are dressing.

Yotes Systems

On the ice, Dave Tippett runs a very conservative style of play. The Coyotes run a 1-2-2 hybrid trap, which is something they’ve been running for some time down in the desert. They aren’t anything out of they ordinary when it comes to defensive zone schemes (zone defense), power play strategies (umbrella), or penalty kill formations (hybrid, depends on puck location/situation). This is a very passive hockey club that will capitalize on mistakes in the neutral zone.

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

Yotes Lines

Tobias Rieder-Martin Hanzal-Anthony Duclair
Jamie McGinn-Jordan Martinook-Radim Vrbata
Brenden Perlini-Peter Holland-Shane Doan
Lawson Crouse-Christian Dvorak-Luke Schenn

Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Connor Murphy
Alex Goligoski-Anthony DeAngelo
Kevin Connauton-Michael Stone

PP1: Reider-Hanzal-Vrbata-Stone-OEL
PP2: Doan-Crouse-Martinook-Goligoski-OEL

Mike Smith gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris Kreider –Derek Stepan –Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–Michael Grabner
J.T. Miller–Marek Hrivik–Brandon Pirri
Matt Puempel–Oscar Lindberg–Jesper Fast