rangers hurricanes

The Rangers lost a sloppy game in Buffalo the other night. Very few players even showed up, but one that did was Adam Clendening, notching an assist and playing a pretty solid game, although he did take a late penalty. But they lost, so it’s back to Kevin Klein and the status quo. But let’s be fair, the entire team needs to start playing better or else last year’s one-and-done in the playoffs is a best case scenario.

This afternoon the Rangers get the Carolina Hurricanes for the third time, having split the first two games. If not for Rick Nash carrying the team earlier in the week, Carolina would have two wins against the Rangers. If not for horrid goaltending, Carolina might be in a playoff position. They are a skilled team, if not that deep yet. But regardless, this is a game the Rangers need to win and do it the right way.

Canes Systems

Under Bill Peters, the Canes play a passive 1-2-2 on the forecheck and look to trap up the neutral zone. In their own end they run your standard low zone collapse. Not the most exciting of systems. On special teams, they run an umbrella powerplay, and a diamond/box hybrid PK.

For more on these systems, check out our Hockey Systems page.

Canes Lines 

Andrej Nestrasil-Viktor Rask-Lee Stempniak
Joakim Nordstrom-Jordan Staal-Sebastian Aho
Teuvo Teravainen-Elias Lindholm-Phillip Di Giuseppe
Bryan Bickell-Jay McClement-Viktor Stalberg

Jacob Slavin-Justin Faulk
Ron Hainsey-Brett Pesce
Noah Hanifin-Jakub Nakladal

PP1: Staal-Aho-Lindholm-Teravainen-Faulk
PP2: Stempniak-Rask-Nestrasil-Di Giuseppe-Slavin

Michael Leighton gets the start.

Rangers Lines:

Jimmy Vesey-Kevin Hayes–Rick Nash
Chris KreiderDerek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Brandon Pirri-Jesper Fast
Matt Puempel–Josh Jooris-J.T. Miller

Ryan McDonaghDan Girardi
Marc StaalNick Holden
Brady Skjei-Kevin Klein

PP1: Kreider-Stepan-Pirri-Zucc-McDonagh
PP2: Nash-Vesey-Hayes-Skjei-Clendening

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Injuries/Scratches: Mika Zibanejad (leg),  Pavel Buchnevich (upper body), Josh Jooris(heathy), Adam Clendening (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: Better than 50% CF for the game.

Game time is 1pm. Gifs are on @blueseatblogs. Be sure to follow our snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!

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