rangers devils

AP Photo/John Minchillo

It’s been an interesting start for the New York Rangers who won three in a row to start the season, then dropped two in a row. They scored just one goal in the process while struggling on special teams. The Devils are in town in a matinee, and they are the perfect team for the Rangers to get back on track. The Devils are bad. There’s no other way to put it.

That said, the Rangers need to stop hemorrhaging shots on defense and need to give Henrik Lundqvist a break. He’s been forced to make countless highlight-reel saves in every single game thus far. The pairings have been shuffled, most notably with Kevin Klein taking Dan Girardi’s spot on the top pair. It’s about time this happened. Klein has been, by far, the best NYR defenseman this season. He may also be the best right-handed defenseman the Rangers have*.

*-I’ll take “words I never thought I’d say” for $200 Alex.

What have they done lately?

The Devils are not a good team. The only reason why they aren’t last in the Metro is because Columbus forgot how to play defense.

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

Mike Cammalleri-Adam Henrique-Lee Stempniak
Jiri Tlusty-Travis Zajac-Kyle Palmieri
Brian O’Neill-Jacob Josefson-Jordin Tootoo
Reid Boucher-Stephen Gionta-Sergey Kalinin

Andy Greene-Adam Larsson
Eric Gelinas-John Moore
David Schlemko-Damon Severson

PP1: Palmieri, Henrique, Josefson, Tootoo, Severson
PP2: Tootoo, Tlusty, O’Neill, Greene, Schlemko

PK: Zajac, Stempniak, Henrique, Josefson, Gionta, Larsson, Greene, Moore

Corey Schneider gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Rick NashDerek StepanMats Zuccarello
Chris KreiderDerick BrassardJesper Fast
Oscar LindbergKevin HayesJ.T. Miller
Viktor StalbergDominic MooreJarret Stoll

Ryan McDonaghKevin Klein
Keith YandleDan Girardi
Marc StaalDan Boyle

PP1: Yandle, Boyle, Nash, Stepan, Zuccarello
PP2: McDonagh, Miller, Kreider, Brassard, Hayes

PK: Stepan, Nash, Moore, Lindberg, Girardi, McDonagh, Staal, Klein

Henrik Lundqvist is in net.

Scratches/Injuries: Tanner Glass (healthy), Jarret Stoll (healthy), Dylan McIlrath (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: Hank gets his first shutout of the year

Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game. Game time is 1pm on MSG. There won’t be any gifs today, I’m unavailable for the game. Sorry folks.

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