rangers dallas stars

After Saturday night’s strong win against the Devils, the Rangers stay home to take on the mediocre Dallas Stars. I use the term mediocre loosely, as that top line and top powerplay unit can run up the score big time. But the Stars struggle on the blue line and in net, so the Rangers –even without Zibanejad– should be able to control the scoring chances.

The Rangers are in a unique situation in the division, where two points would move them up a bunch of spots with games in hand, but it wouldn’t kill them if they didn’t get both. That said, this is one of those games you use to make up ground. They went 2-1 in the divisional games over the weekend, so missing out on two tonight would be a bummer.

Stars Systems

I haven’t watched Ken Hitchcock much in Dallas, but with St. Louis, he had the Blues running an aggressive 2-1-2 overload forecheck, but tend to switch to a 1-2-2 with a lead late in the period, They were fairly aggressive when it comes to defensive zone schemes, playing an overload style and collapsing down when the puck is down low. Their power play strategy was a 1-3-1, and their penalty kill formation was a hybrid.

I’d assume he runs the same style in Dallas.

Stars Lines

Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Devin Shore
Matthias Janmark-Jason Spezza-Alex Radulov
Antoinne Roussel-Radek Faksa-Tyler Pitlick
Remie Elie-Gemel Smith-Brett Ritchie

Esa Lindell-John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis-Dan Pateryn
Jamie Oleksiak-Stephen Johns

PP1: Seguin-Benn-Radulov-Shore-Klingberg
PP2: Spezza-Ritchie-Janmark-Oleksiak-Lindell

Kari Lehtonen gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris KreiderDavid DesharnaisPavel Buchnevich
Jimmy VeseyKevin HayesRick Nash
Michael GrabnerJT MillerMats Zuccarello
Paul CareyBoo NievesJesper Fast

Ryan McDonaghNick Holden
Brady SkjeiKevin Shattenkirk
Marc StaalBrendan 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: A goal at all strengths.

Game time is 7pm. Be sure to follow on Twitter for gifs, and on our Snapchat for in-game.

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