After sweeping the Western Canada road trip, the Rangers are in Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. CBJ is halfway decent this year at 8-4-2, and a +14 goal differential, but they also have a 10-0 whooping of the Canadiens under their belt. Outside of that win, they aren’t all that impressive so far. They don’t have the speed to match the Rangers, so they will need to rely on clogging the neutral zone and the slot.
As for the Rangers, they haven’t played their best lately. They may have put up a touchdown on Vancouver, but they only took 18 shots and played a pretty poor first period. It’s not alarming yet, just something to take note of as the season goes on. They’ve played down to their opponents a few times now, and should be looking to stop that trend tonight.
Jackets Systems
John Tortorella is a notorious aggressive forechecking coach, deploying a 2-1-2 forecheck with most of his teams. In the defensive zone, he’s also notorious for clogging the slot in a low zone collapse, keeping shots to the outside. On special teams, he usually runs an umbrella powerplay, but there’s enough skill on the top-six in Columbus to run a 1-3-1 as well. On the kill, it’s a standard box/diamond hybrid.
For more on hockey systems, check here.
Jackets Lines
Brandon Saad-Alex Wennberg-Nick Foligno
Boone Jenner-Brandon Dubinsky-Cam Atkinson
Matt Calvert-William Karlsson-John Anderson
Scott Hartnell-Lucas Sedlak-Sam Gagner
Zach Werenski-David Savard
Ryan Murray–Jack Johnson
Scott Harrington-Markus Nutivaara
PP1: Saad-Dubinsky-Jenner-Hartnell-Werenski
PP2: Atkinson-Wennberg-Gagner-Foligno-Murray
Sergei Bobrovky gets the start.
Rangers Lines:
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Derek Stepan–Rick Nash
Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–J.T. Miller
Oscar Lindberg–Brandon Pirri-Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Brady Skjei
Nick Holden–Kevin Klein
PP1: DJ ZBad-Miller-Pirri-Zucc-McDonagh
PP2: Nash-Stepan-Vesey-Hayes-Girardi
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Josh Jooris (shoulder), Adam Clendening (healthy), Pavel Buchnevich (upper body)
Crazy Prediction: Three PPGs.
Game time is 7pm. Gifs are on @blueseatblogs. Be sure to follow our snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!
Share:
More About:Game Thread