rangers leafs mika zibanejad

The Rangers are in Toronto tonight, taking on a very potent Leafs team that has some solid scoring talent. The Rangers caught a break, as Mitch Marner is not in the lineup, but the Leafs are still one of the better offensive teams in the league. They are certainly high-event, like the Rangers, so this should be a back and forth type of game.

Alain Vigneault made one lineup change, subbing in Brandon Pirri for Pavel Buchnevich. The goal is to jump-start the powerplay, which has been in a slump lately. It also helps to get Pirri some game time, since he hasn’t played all month. It’s a switch that doesn’t move the needle much for one game, but certainly has fans up in arms.

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-Connor Brown
Leo Komarov-Nazem Kadri-Josh Leivo
Zach Hyman-Auston Matthews-William Nylander
Matt Martin-Frederik Gauthier-Nikita Soshnikov

Morgan Rielly-Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Gardiner-Alexey Marchenko
Matt Hunwick-Roman Polak

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

Frederik Andersen gets the start.

Rangers Lines 

Chris KreiderMika ZibanejadMats Zuccarello
Jimmy VeseyDerek StepanRick Nash
Michael GrabnerKevin HayesJT Miller
Brandon Pirri–Oscar LindbergJesper Fast

Ryan McDonaghDan Girardi
Marc StaalNick Holden
Brady Skjei–Adam Clendening

PP1: Zibanejad-Pirri-Nash-Miller-McDonagh
PP2: Stepan-Miller-Kreider-Zuccarello-Holden

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Injuries/Scratches:  Pavel Buchnevich (healthy), Matt Puempel (healthy), Kevin Klein (upper body)

Crazy Prediction: Hat trick for Zibanejad to get off the schneid.

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