The Rangers played one of the worst defensive games in the post-lockout era against Dallas on Monday. That is no hyperbole either. Based on shot differentials, both attempts and on-goal, it was in the top-ten of worst defensive performances. So even a bad Rangers effort is an improvement tonight.
Luckily for the Rangers, they face the hapless Senators tonight in what is surely another trap game. The Sens are already in sell mode, fielding offers for basically everyone except for Mark Stone and –rumored– Derick Brassard.
Sens Systems
The good thing about facing the Sens is that I wrote a detailed piece about the systems that Guy Boucher runs, which you should check out here.
The Cliff Notes version: Guy Boucher runs a 1-1-3 neutral zone forecheck, sending one man in deep with one at the blue line to capitalize off turnovers. They leave three men by the red line to clog the neutral zone and disrupt any speedy breakouts.
In the defensive zone, Boucher runs a standard overload/zone system. The zone will look like an overload, and naturally the look will change depending on puck location. They will likely shift to a box+1 if the puck is behind the net.
On special teams, Boucher runs a standard hybrid 1-3-1/umbrella power play and box/diamond penalty kill. Nothing unusual here.
Senators Lines
Zack Smith-Derick Brassard-Mark Stone
Bobby Ryan-Matt Duchene-Ryan Dzingel
Mike Hoffman-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Gabriel Dumont
Alex Burrows-Nate Thompson-Tom Pyatt
Johnny Oduya-Erik Karlsson
Dion Phaneuf-Cody Ceci
Frederick Claesson-Ben Harpur
PP1: Stone-Hoffman-Brassard-Burrows-Karlsson
PP2: Duchene-Dzingel-DiDomenico-Ryan-Phaneuf
Craig Anderson 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
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Mika Zibanejad (concussion), Steven Kampfer (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Brassard defects to the Rangers.
Game time is 7pm. Be sure to follow on Twitter for gifs, and on our Snapchat for in-game.
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