The Rangers played very well last night against the Devils, and will look to repeat the same process against the Isles. The beautiful part here is that the Rangers can deal a critical blow to the Isles’ playoff chances with a win in regulation tonight. The tough part is that the Isles are significantly better than the Devils.
With Jack Capuano out, the Isles have dressed a somewhat better lineup. Josh Ho-Sang has added much needed speed and skill to the top-six, and the Isles now have eight forwards capable of scoring any time they are on the ice. Their blue line is missing Johnny Boychuck, and that third pair can be exposed by the Kid Line if given the opportunity. Should be a back-and-forth game.
Isles Systems
Jack Capuano has been fired by the Isles, and replaced by Doug Weight. On the forecheck, they appear to rotate between a 2-1-2 and a 1-2-2, but use both aggressively. In the defensive zone, it looked like an aggressive zone, likely a hybrid strong side overload/zone. On the penalty kill, it looks like a wedge+1. The powerplay is mostly overload, but they work in a 1-3-1 every now and then.
Islanders Lines
Andrew Ladd-John Tavares-Josh Bailey
Anders Lee-Anthony Beauvillier-Josh Ho-Sang
Brock Nelson-Ryan Strome-Jason Chimera
Nikolay Kulemin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy-Adam Pelech
Calvin de Haan-Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey-Scott Mayfield
PP1: Strome-Tavares-Bailey-Lee-Leddy
PP2: Nelson-Ho-Sang-Beauvillier-Ladd-Pelech
Thomas Greiss gets the start.
Rangers Lines
JT Miller–Mika Zibanejad–Rick Nash
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Kevin Hayes–Jesper Fast
Pavel Buchnevich–Oscar Lindberg–Jimmy Vesey
Ryan McDonagh–Marc Staal
Brendan Smith–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Adam Clendening
PP1: Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Vesey-Miller-McDonagh
PP2: Stepan-Hayes-Kreider-Zuccarello-Clendening
Antti Raanta gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Kevin Klein (back), Dan Girardi (ankle), Henrik Lundqvist (lower body), Steven Kampfer (healthy), Matt Puempel (healthy), Brandon Pirri (healthy), Tanner Glass (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Clendo goal-o.
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