The struggling Rangers are in Tampa tonight looking to rebound against an injured and under achieving Bolts team. The Rangers are sporting a new look, with Steven Kampfer and Tanner Glass up to bring some “toughness” to the lineup. They will play in favor of Matt Puempel and Adam Clendening.
As for the Bolts, they are without Ryan Callahan and Steven Stamkos. They also traded Valtteri Filppula, Brian Boyle and Ben Bishop at the deadline. They are still a dangerous team though, so don’t take the standings lightly. That said, they are not what they were the past two years due to injuries. This should be a game where the Rangers get back on track, and Glass/Kampfer get all the credit.
Bolts Systems
Jon Cooper has the Lightning playing a pretty similar system as the Rangers. They run an overload 1-2-2 forecheck, but will mix in a 2-1-2 as well. They do this quite often against the Rangers actually. In the defensive zone, they mix zone and overload coverage depending on puck location. On special teams, they run a 1-3-1 power play and rotate between a diamond and box penalty kill depending on opposition setup.
Bolts Lines
Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn-Brayden Point-Jonathan Drouin-
Yanni Gourde-Vladimir Namestnikov-Adam Ernie
Gabriel Dumont-Cedric Paquette-J.T. Brown
Victor Hedman-Jake Dotchin
Jason Garrison-Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn-Andrej Sustr
PP1: Kucherov-Palat-Johnson-Drouin-Hedman
PP2: Point-Killorn-Ernie-Namestnikov-Dotchin
Andrei Vasilevsky gets the start.
Rangers Lines (presumed)
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Pavel Buchnevich–Mika Zibanejad–Rick Nash
Jimmy Hayes–Kevin Hayes–JT Miller
Brandon Pirri–Oscar Lindberg–Tanner Glass
Ryan McDonagh–Brendan Smith
Marc Staal–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Steven Kampfer
PP1: Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Nash-Miller-McDonagh
PP2: Stepan-Miller-Kreider-Zuccarello-Holden
Antti Raanta gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Jesper Fast (shoulder), Michael Grabner (hip) Kevin Klein (back), Dan Girardi (ankle), Adam Clendening (healthy), Matt Puempel (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Kampfer and Glass score.
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