Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Rangers are in Dallas tonight to take on the explosive Stars, one of the top teams in the NHL. Dallas is loaded up and down the lineup, but their achilles heel is their goaltending and overall team defense. They control the play, but backchecking, positioning, and actually stopping pucks seems to be a challenge. Regardless, they are the cream of the crop in the West, along with LA and Chicago.

The Rangers squeaked by St. Louis on Thursday because Henrik Lundqvist stood on his head. If the Blueshirts play like that today, they will get annihilated. This is a Dallas team that looks primed to make a deep run, assuming they can continually outscore their opponents. Their weakness is defense and goaltending, so getting shots –as in not passing 800 times and passing up good shots– is critical. They beat Dallas once, they can do it again.

Stars Systems

Lindy Ruff has the Stars playing an overload 1-2-2 forecheck which can be deployed aggressively or conservatively depending on the game situation (e.g., time left in period, score, etc.). In the defensive zone, Dallas tends to overload when the puck is along the boards, but they’ll switch to a zone defense when the puck is at the points. The Stars also run a variation of a 1-3-1 power play and diamond/box hybrid penalty kill. These are familiar styles of play that the Rangers should be used to at this point.

Stars Lines

Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Valeri Nichushkin
Mattias Janmark-Jason Spezza-Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel-Cody Eakin-Patrick Sharp
Vernon Fiddler-Radek Faksa-Colton Sceviour

Alex Goligoski-John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya-Jason Demers
Jyrki Jokipakka-Patrick Nemeth

PP1: Sharp-Spezza-Seguin-Benn-Klingberg
PP2: Nichuskin-Janmark-Hemsky-Demers-Goligoski

PK: Sceviour, Fiddler, Eakin, Benn, Faksa, Demers, Oduya, Benn, Goligoski, Jokipakka

Kari Lehtonen gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris KreiderDerek StepanMats Zuccarello
JT MillerDerick BrassardJesper Fast
Oscar LindbergKevin HayesViktor Stalberg
Tanner GlassDominic Moore–Marek Hrivik

Ryan McDonaghDan Girardi
Marc StaalKevin Klein
Keith YandleDan Boyle

PP1: Yandle-Klein-Miller-Hayes-Fast
PP2: Zucc-Boyle-Kreider-Stepan-Brassard

PK: Stepan, Moore, Lindberg, Fast, Boyle, Staal, Yandle, Girardi

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Rick Nash (leg), Dylan McIlrath (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: The Rangers “accidentally” take Nichuskin back with them to NY, leaving Staal behind.

Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game. Game time is 4pm on MSG. All gifs will be on nyrgifs.com.

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