The Rangers return home tonight to face the Lightning as the rest of us prepare for a March blizzard. Personally, I would have preferred those 60 degree days we had in February to be now, and the blizzard to have happened then. What a pain.
The last time the Rangers faced the Bolts was last week, and Antti Raanta stood on his head in a game the Rangers did not deserve to win. Hopefully with a healthier lineup, better process follows. At this point in the season, it’s about playing the right way. Proper process breeds playoff wins.
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
Pavel Buchnevich–Mika Zibanejad–Rick Nash
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Kevin Hayes–JT Miller
Tanner Glass–Oscar Lindberg–Jimmy Vesey
Ryan McDonagh–Brendan Smith
Marc Staal–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Steven Kampfer
PP1: Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Vesey-Miller-McDonagh
PP2: Stepan-Hayes-Kreider-Zuccarello-Holden
Antti Raanta gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Jesper Fast (shoulder), Kevin Klein (back), Dan Girardi (ankle), Adam Clendening (healthy), Matt Puempel (healthy), Brandon Pirri (healthy), Henrik Lundqvist (lower body)
Crazy Prediction: Two goals from the blue line from someone other than McDonagh.
Game time is 7pm. Gifs are on @blueseatblogs. Be sure to follow our snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!
Share:
More About:Game Thread