AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
After the less than convincing win in Glendale, the Rangers travel to Denver to face the only team worse than the Coyotes in the Colorado Avalanche. This team is a train wreck right now, so naturally this is a trap game for the Rangers. Looking at the Avs’ lineup, they have a a solid top line, 2/3 of a solid second line, and then an average/below average bottom-six. I have no idea what to make of their defense.
The Avs are weird. They should be better, I think. There’s a good amount of skill, but they are clearly not a complete team. As for the Rangers, they matchup well against the Avs, and their forwards should have free reign in the offensive zone. However the Avs’ top line may give the Rangers defense fits if given too much space. It would be nice to close out the new year with a convincing win, but execution needs to be on the Rangers side.
Avs Systems
Jared Bednar is the new guy in Denver. I honestly have no idea what style he has the Avs playing, but for what it’s worth, preseason reports had him running an aggressive, push the pace style. I’d expect the Avs to try to push the play quickly up the ice, using their forward speed to try to catch the slow Rangers defense flat footed. It’s worked before against the Rangers, but it remains to be seen if a team with little depth, like the Avs, can exploit those same weaknesses.
Avs Lines
Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen
Mikhail Grigorenko-Matt Duchene-Rene Bourque
Blake Comeau-Carl Soderberg-Jarome Iginla
Andreas Martinsen-John Mitchell-Cody McLeod
Fedor Tyutin-Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov-Francois Beauchemin
Patrick Wiercioch-Eric Gelinas
PP1: Iginla-Duchene-Bourque-Girgorenko-Barrie
PP2: Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen-Zadorov-Gelinas
Calvin Pickard 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
Ryan McDonagh–Kevin Klein
Marc Staal–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Dan Girardi
PP1: Kreider-Stepan-Pirri-Zucc-McDonagh
PP2: Miller-Vesey-Hayes-Skjei-Holden
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Mika Zibanejad (broken leg), Pavel Buchnevich (back spasms), Rick Nash (groin), Adam Clendening (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Girardi with two goals.
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