The Rangers are in Tampa tonight to take on the very good and very talented Lightning. The focus of the game is going to be on Alain Vigneault, as another poor showing may put his job in jeopardy. That said, if he was on a game-to-game leash, I feel like the no-show in the first period against Vegas would have done him in. But what do I know?
One of the other stories will be Dan Girardi. Girardi was a lifelong Ranger, but was bought out last summer in the cap crunch for the Rangers. No matter which side of the fence you fell on regarding Girardi’s last three years in New York, he was always a warrior on the ice who left it all out there. That part has never been in question.
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
Vladimir Namestnikov-Steven Stamkos-Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat-Brayden Point-Yanni Gourde
Chris Kunitz-Tyler Johnson-Ryan Callahan
Alex Killorn-Gabriel Dumont-J.T. Brown
Victor Hedman-Jake Dotchin
Mikhail Sergachev-Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn-Dan Girardi
PP1: Kucherov-Stamkos-Killorn-Namestnikov-Hedman
PP2: Point-Palat-Gourde-Johnson-Sergachev
Andrei Vasilevsky gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Pavel Buchnevich
Rick Nash–Kevin Hayes–Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey–David Desharnais–JT Miller
Michael Grabner-Boo Nieves-Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal–Steven Kampfer
PP1: Nash-Miller-Buchnevich-Zibanejad-Shattenkirk
PP2: Hayes-Desharnais-Kreider-Zuccarello-McDonagh
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Paul Carey (healthy), Brendan Smith(healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Girardi scores the game winner, because of course.
Game time is 7:30pm. Be sure to follow on Twitter for gifs, and on our Snapchat for in-game.
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