The Rangers are in Columbus tonight to take on a white-hot Blue Jackets team that is fresh off an amazing 16 game winning streak. However this streak is not like the Flyers streak of ten in a row, where amazing shooting and goaltending masked some underlying issues with puck possession. The Blue Jackets have great possession numbers, playing an aggressive style and riding great special teams. This isn’t the Tortorella Rangers, this CBJ team is good.
As for the Rangers, they are literally limping in to the bye week. They have five injuries to deal with, four to key players. It’s tough to stay consistent when missing an entire top line. However the injury to Staal finally forced Alain Vigneault to juggle the defense pairings. It worked like a charm against the Flyers, as the one thing that remained static during inconsistent play was finally changed up. Perhaps this is the beginning of the much needed shakeup on defense.
Jackets Systems
John Tortorella is a notorious aggressive forechecking coach, deploying a 2-1-2 forecheck with most of his teams. In the defensive zone, he’s also notorious for clogging the slot in a low zone collapse, keeping shots to the outside. On special teams, he usually runs an umbrella powerplay, but there’s enough skill on the top-six in Columbus to run a 1-3-1 as well. On the kill, it’s a standard box/diamond hybrid.
For more on hockey systems, check here.
Jackets Lines
Brandon Saad-Alex Wennberg-Nick Foligno
Boone Jenner-Brandon Dubinsky–Cam Atkinson
Matt Calvert-William Karlsson-John Anderson
Scott Hartnell-Lucas Sedlak-Sam Gagner
Zach Werenski-Seth Jones
Jack Johnson-David Savard
Ryan Murray-Markus Nutivaara
PP1:Atkinson-Wennberg-Gagner-Foligno-Werenski
PP2: Saad-Dubinsky-Jenner-Hartnell-Jones
Sergei Bobrovky gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–Michael Grabner
J.T. Miller–Marek Hrivik–Brandon Pirri
Nicklas Jensen–Oscar Lindberg–Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh–Brady Skjei
Adam Clendening–Kevin Klein
Nick Holden–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), Rick Nash (groin), Matt Puempel (concussion), Marc Staal (upper body)
Crazy Prediction: Deal a second straight loss to the suddenly not on a streak Blue Jackets.
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