matt puempel mats zuccarello

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

The Rangers are out West tonight, taking on the LA Kings. This is not the same Kings team that has been perennial Cup contenders. This Kings team is old, slow, and is not making the playoffs. They are a product of bad contracts and a misunderstanding of how the game has evolved to speed and skill over toughness. Their time came (two Cups) and has since left.

As for the Rangers, they are starting to get healthy. Dan Girardi returns tonight. Henrik Lundqvist will return tomorrow. Kevin Klein is coming back on this trip. The Blueshirts have a rare opportunity to get the injured players up to speed while resting some others than may need a game or two off. These games –at least the results– are meaningless. What matters most is process. Forecheck, good defense, better special teams. Get that working, and there is long term success waiting.

Kings Systems

Daryl Sutter has the Kings playing a system similar to that of John Tortorella’s Rangers. They generally run an aggressive overload 2-1-2 forecheck (forecheckers attack the same side of the ice) and they play a 2-1-2 zone defense off the wall (two guys take the hit zone, one takes the support zone, two have the slot). Once the puck moves up high, depending on the matchup, they’ll attack the blue line or collapse their forwards.  They play a hybrid penalty kill, and a 1-3-1/modified umbrella on the powerplay.

Kings Lines

Marian Gaborik-Anze Kopitar-Jarome Iginla
Tanner Pearson-Jeff Carter-Tyler Toffoli
Adrian Kempe-Nic Dowd-Jonny Brodzinski
Andy Andreoff-Trevor Lewis-Dustin Brown

Derek Forbort-Drew Doughty
Brayden McNabb-Alec Martinez
Jake Muzzin-Paul Ladue

PP1: Carter-Kopitar-Toffoli-Doughty-Muzzin
PP2: Iginla-Dowd-Gaborik-Ladue-Martinez

Jonathan Quick gets the start.

Rangers Lines

JT MillerMika ZibanejadRick Nash
Chris KreiderDerek StepanMats Zuccarello
Michael GrabnerKevin HayesJesper Fast
Pavel BuchnevichOscar LindbergJimmy Vesey

Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Brendan Smith

PP1: Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Vesey-Miller-McDonagh
PP2: Stepan-Hayes-Kreider-Zuccarello-Clendening

Antti Raanta gets the start.

Injuries/Scratches:  Kevin Klein (back),  Adam Clendening (healthy) Steven Kampfer (healthy), Matt Puempel (healthy), Brandon Pirri (healthy), Tanner Glass (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: A Girardi goal in his return.

Game time is 10:30pm. Gifs are on @blueseatblogs. Be sure to follow our snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!

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