jt miller

Another game, another defenseman from the Hartford Wolf Pack. Tonight, Ryan Sproul joins John Gilmour, Neal Pionk, and Tony DeAngelo on the Rangers blue line tonight. Only Nick Holden and Brady Skjei are the regular NHLers on the blue line tonight. This is what you get when you play a game at Citi Field.

The Rangers, despite these issues, have won two in a row against teams in the playoff hunt. They are now going for a third and a genuine winning streak tonight in Minnesota, another team in the playoff hunt. On paper, the Wild should skate circles around the Blueshirts. But that was true of the past two games, too.

Wild Systems

Bruce Boudreau likes to stay aggressive with his schemes. He runs an aggressive 1-2-2 forecheck. The defense are not afraid to get involved in the rush, looking to fly the zone early if there’s a chance for a break.  With a late lead, he will sit back use their 1-2-2 more conservatively. Overall, this is comparable to AV’s system.

When it comes to defensive zone schemes, the Wild will send a forward to challenge the points while everyone else collapses in the zone and overloads the half boards. Their powerplay strategy is a 1-3-1. Their penalty kill formation is generally a diamond force, which sends a player high to challenge the point.

Wild Lines (presumed)

Nino Niederreiter-Eric Staal-Tyler Ennis
Jason Zucker-Mikko Koivu-Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise-Matt Cullen-Charlie Coyle
Marcus Foligno-Joel Eriksson Ek-Daniel Winnik

Ryan Suter-Jared Spurgeon
Gustav Olofsson-Matt Dumba
Mike Reilly-Nate Prosser

PP1: Niederreiter-Staal-Parise-Dumba-Reilly
PP2: Granlund-Koivu-Zucker-Suter-Spurgeon

Devan Dubnyk gets the start.

Rangers Lines 

Rick Nash–Mika Zibanejad–Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Kevin Hayes–JT Miller
Jimmy Vesey–David Desharnais–Jesper Fast
Cody McLeod-Peter Holland–Paul Carey

Brady Skjei–Neal Pionk
Nick Holden–Tony DeAngelo
John Gilmour–Ryan Sproul

PP1: Nash-Zuccarello-Zibanejad-Miller-Skjei
PP2: Hayes-Desharnais-Lettieri-Gilmour-DeAngelo

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Chris Kreider (blood clot), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee), Pavel Buchnevich (concussion), Jimmy Vesey (concussion), Marc Staal (cervical sprain), Ryan McDonagh (lingering something or other), Ondrej Pavelec (knee), Steven Kampfer (hand)

Crazy Prediction: No one gets hurt.

Game time is 8pm. Be sure to follow on our Snapchat for in-game shenanigans.

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