AP Photo/Julie Jacobson
Earlier in the year, I had made a bet with Becky that the Senators would not make the playoffs. I put too much faith in the Lightning. Well, that sucked for me, didn’t it? I now irrationally hate the Senators. Stupid Senators making me buy scotch that isn’t for me.
Yea this game doesn’t matter. So I’m just having some fun with the preview. We are not going to be able to tell what kind of momentum the Rangers are going to have in this game. The biggest key is to watch Hank, and hope he is dialed in. He needs to be for the Rangers to have a shot in the playoffs.
Senators Systems
Guy Boucher is the new man in town for the Senators. He has the Sens running a 1-1-3 forecheck, which can be an aggressive forecheck or a neutral zone trap depending on the puck’s location, the score, how much time is left on the clock, etc. As for the defensive zone, he has his guys playing straight zone coverage, overloading the boards and collapsing low when the puck is below the goal line.
For special teams, he runs standard hybrid systems. With the man advantage, he runs 1-3-1/umbrella power play, which creates four triangles to pass around and take one-timer shots. This system forces the defense to focus on the middle players causing the PK to miss coverages. On the PK, it will be a hybrid box/diamond.
Senators Lines
Ryan Dzingel-Kyle Turris-Mark Stone
Viktor Stalberg-Derick Brassard-Alex Burrows
Mike Hoffman-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Tom Pyatt
Clarke MacCarthur-Chris Kelly-Tommy Wingels
Dion Phaneuf-Ben Harpur
Chris Wideman-Mark Borowiecki
Frederik Claesson-Cody Ceci
PP1: Stone-Turris-Hoffman-Dzingel-Phaneuf
PP2: Stalberg-MacCarthur-Brassard-Wideman-Claesson
Craig Anderson gets the start
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich
JT Miller-Kevin Hayes-Michael Grabner
Jimmy Vesey-Brandon Pirri-Taylor Beck
Tanner Glass-Oscar Lindberg-Matt Puempel
Brendan Smith-Dan Girardi
Brady Skjei-Kevin Klein
Adam Clendening-Steven Kampfer
PP1: Five guys, hopefully not all lefties
PP2: A different five guys, hopefully with at least one righty
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan, Jesper Fast, Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash, Marc Staal, Nick Holden
Crazy Prediction: In a protest of both teams benching stars, the fans stage a coup, grab gear, and storm the ice for their own scrimmage.
Game time is 12:30pm. Gifs are on @blueseatblogs. Be sure to follow our snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!
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