The Rangers are back at it, again at MSG, to take on the Florida Panthers. The Panthers can only be described with, “WTF?” They made a commitment to analytics, then let injuries last year completely derail their strategy before it even had a chance to get off the ground. Now they are caught in the middle, making silly trades and not really seeing any positive results on the ice.
The Panthers allow a ton of goals, which makes sense because they all of a sudden became frugal and traded away their blue liners. There’s only so much an aging Roberto Luongo can do. That said, the Panthers have a good top line, so they can put the puck in the net.
Panthers Systems
Ron Rivera is the new guy in Sunrise. I have no insight into how he has Florida playing.
Disclaimer: I wrote this well in advance of the game. Lines may not be accurate.
Panthers Lines (presumed)
Jonathan Huberdeau-Alex Barkov-Evgeni Dadonov
Henrik Haapala-Vincent Trocheck-Nick Bjugstad
Jamie McGinn-Jared McCann-Colton Sceviour
Connor Brickley-Chase Balisy-Micheal Haley
Keith Yandle-Aaron Ekblad
Michael Matheson-Alex Petrovic
Ian McCoshen-Mackenzie Weegar
PP1: Huberdeau-Trocheck-Barkov-Dadonov-Yandle
PP2: Haapala-McCann-Bjugstad-Weegar-Ekblad
Roberto Luongo gets the start.
Rangers Lines (presumed)
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Pavel Buchnevich
Rick Nash–Kevin Hayes–Jesper Fast
Michael Grabner–JT Miller–Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey-Boo Nieves-Paul Carey
Nick Holden-Brendan Smith
Brady Skjei–Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal–Steven Kampfer
PP1: Nash-Kreider-Buchnevich-Zibanejad-Shattenkirk
PP2: Hayes-Miller-Vesey-Zuccarello-Skjei
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: David Desharnais (healthy), Ryan McDonagh (abdomen)
Crazy Prediction: Grabner with a shorty.
Game time is 7pm. Be sure to follow on Twitter for gifs, and on our Snapchat for in-game.
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