After a much needed bye week, the Rangers are back in action tonight and will see the returns of Rick Nash and Pavel Buchnevich. While that is the main story for the Rangers, it is not the primary focus of the pregame. The organization will be honoring Detective Steven McDonald tonight, who passed away this week after suffering a heart attack.

The Rangers have presented the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award each season since 1987-88 to the Rangers player who goes above and beyond the normal call of duty, in honor of McDonald, who was shot in 1986 while on duty in Central Park. The incident left him a quadiplegic. McDonald was laid to rest today in a service where Adam Graves –who has won the award a record five times– spoke.

Detective McDonald was an inspiration to many and was a symbol of hope, courage, and forgiveness. McDonald was also a huge Rangers fan. He is survived by his wife and son, Conor, who followed his footsteps to the NYPD. Rest in peace.

Leafs Systems

Mike Babcock plays a 2-1-2 forecheck/LW lock depending on game situation. In their own zone, it was a straight up zone defense. On the PP, it was an umbrella and a 1-3-1 formation. On the penalty kill they changed up their strategy depending on the opposition’s setup. Pretty straight forward for a team lacking skill.

Leafs Lines

James van Riemsdyk-Tyler Bozak-Mitch Marner
Leo Komarov-Nazem Kadri-William Nylander
Zach Hyman-Auston Matthews-Connor Brown
Matt Martin-Frederik Gauthier-Nikita Soshnikov

Morgan Rielly-Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Gardiner-Connor Carrick
Matt Hunwick-Roman Polak

PP1: JVR-Bozak-Marner-Kadri-Zaitsev
PP2: Matthews-Brown-Nylander-Komarov-Gardiner

Frederik Andersen gets the start.

Rangers Lines 

Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Kevin Hayes–J.T. Miller
Jimmy Vesey-Oscar Lindberg-Rick Nash
Pavel Buchnevich-Brandon Pirri-Jesper Fast

Ryan McDonagh–Brady Skjei
Nick Holden–Dan Girardi
Adam Clendening–Kevin Klein

PP1: Kreider-Stepan-Nash-Zucc-McDonagh
PP2: Miller-Pirri-Hayes-Skjei-Holden

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Injuries/Scratches: Mika Zibanejad (broken leg),  Marc Staal (upper body), Marek Hrivik (healthy), Matt Puempel (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: Buch and Nash score in their returns.

Game time is 7pm. Gifs are on @blueseatblogs. Be sure to follow our snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!

Share: 

More About: