The Rangers lost last night to the Caps, but beat Pittsburgh earlier in the week. Tonight they face off against the surprising Devils, in an attempt to end this three game run in the division with a winning record. It won’t be easy, since the Devils, picked by everyone to finish last, were just bumped from first last night. Who woulda thunk?
The Blueshirts got thoroughly thrashed against Washington, and now face a tough challenge of a back-to-back against a team with strong goaltending, a good top line, and now got stronger with the addition of Sami Vatanen. The Devils have depth issues, and that is where the Blueshirts are going to need to do their damage.
Devils Systems
John Hynes has his club running a 1-2-2 forecheck, a low zone collapse, an umbrealla powerplay and a hybrid penalty kill. These are standard systems across the board, and are not very aggressive in nature. The Devils will look to sit and force turnovers in the neutral zone on the forecheck, then collapse to block shots and defend the high priced real estate in the defensive zone. Considering the team, conservative is probably his best bet.
For more on these systems, check out our Hockey Systems page.
Devils Lines
Taylor Hall-Nico Hischier-Jesper Bratt
Marcus Johanssen-Travis Zajac-Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood-Brian Boyle-Jimmy Hayes
Brian Gibbons-Blake Coleman-Drew Stafford
Andy Greene-Sami Vatanen
John Moore-Damon Severson
Will Butcher-Steven Santini
PP1: Hall-Boyle-Bratt-Hayes-Butcher
PP2: Johansen-Hischier-Stafford-Severson-Severson
Keith Kinkaid gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider–David Desharnais–Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–Rick Nash
Michael Grabner–JT Miller–Mats Zuccarello
Paul Carey–Boo Nieves–Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal–Brendan Smith
PP1: Kreider-Zuccarello-Desharnais-Buchnevich-Shattenkirk
PP2: Nash-Miller-Vesey-Hayes-McDonagh
Ondrej Pavelec gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Mika Zibanejad (concussion), Steven Kampfer (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Vatanen gets traded to the Rangers mid-game.
Game time is 7pm. Be sure to follow on Twitter for gifs, and on our Snapchat for in-game.
Share:
More About:Game Thread