After Friday’s win in Washington, the Rangers look to make it two in a row against divisional opponents, with the potential first round opponent Isles coming to the Garden. The Isles are five points back of the Rangers for second place, but have three games in hand. This is a critical four-point swing game for second place, as an Isles win puts them well within striking distance.
The Isles are a solid team. They have talent and depth up front and a solid top-four on defense. Their weakness is that third pairing though, and considering how deep the Rangers are, it’s a matchup Alain Vigneault should look to exploit. In net, Jaro Halak is good but he has his moments of ineptitude, as many Isles fans will complain about. This should be an Old Time Hockey game today.
Isles Systems
Like the Rangers, Isles head coach Jack Capuano has the Isles running a 1-2-2 forecheck and a 1-1-3 lock, which they use aggressively or conservatively depending on the game situation (e.g., score, time left in period, etc.). In the defensive zone, the Isles are bit different than the Blueshirts. Capuano has them playing man-on-man up high, but collapse into a zone defense when the puck is down low. On special teams, the Isles rotate between a 1-3-1 and 1-2-2 power play and a hybrid penalty kill.
Isles Lines
Brock Nelson-John Tavares-Ryan Strome
Josh Bailey-Frans Nielsen-Kyle Okposo
Shane Prince-Nikolai Kulemin-Anders Lee
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy-Johnny Boychuk
Calvin de Haan-Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey-Ryan Pulock
PP1: Tavares-Lee-Nielsen-Okposo-Leddy
PP2: Nelson-Bailey-Strome-Boychuk-Pulock
PK: Nielsen, Kulemin, Cizikas, Clutterbuck, Nelson, de Haan, Leddy, Hickey, Strait
Jaroslav Halak gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
JT Miller–Derick Brassard–Jesper Fast
Viktor Stalberg–Eric Staal–Kevin Hayes
Oscar Lindberg–Dominic Moore–Tanner Glass
Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Keith Yandle–Kevin Klein
Dan Boyle–Dylan McIlrath
PP1: Yandle-Klein-Miller-Hayes-Fast
PP2: Zucc-Boyle-Kreider-Stepan-Brassard
PK: Stepan, Moore, Lindberg, Fast, Glass, McDonagh, Staal, Klein, Girardi
Antti Raanta gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Rick Nash (leg), Marc Staal (back), Henrik Lundqvist (neck)
Crazy Prediction: A statement win.
Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game. Game time is 5pm on MSG. All gifs will be on nyrgifs.com.
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