Photo by David Hahn/Icon Sportswire

The Rangers have woken up, or at least that’s what it looks like. They are winners of three in a row, including two in overtime. They used that run to survive October ahead of the magic number of three. It’s not the start anyone wanted, but they aren’t dead yet. There are holes, but at least they are starting to win.

That said, the three wins were against not-so-good teams. In town tonight is Columbus, and they are a pretty good team. John Tortorella adjusted his systems and is now thriving. It’s something Alain Vigneault should look long and hard at.

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.

The big change Torts has made while in Columbus is that he allows his defensemen to have more freedom. Specifically, he allows Seth Jones and Zach Werenski to play a “rover” position, where they take chances if they see a scoring opportunity. It’s been working so far. Weird to say, but Torts is a pioneer in this aspect.

For more on hockey systems, check here.

Jackets Lines

Artemi Panarin-Alex Wennberg-Josh Anderson
Boone Jenner-Brandon Dubinsky-Tyler Motte
Matt Calvert-Alex Wennberg- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Sonny Milano-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Markus Hannikainen

Zach Werenski-Seth Jones
Jack Johnson-David Savard
Ryan Murray-Markus Nutivaara

PP1: Jenner-Foligno-Bjorkstrand-Panarin-Werenski
PP2: Calvert-Wennberg-Dubois-Anderson-Jones

Sergei Bobrovsky gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris KreiderMika ZibanejadPavel Buchnevich
Rick NashKevin HayesMats Zuccarello
Jimmy VeseyDavid DesharnaisJT Miller
Michael Grabner-Boo Nieves-Jesper Fast

Ryan McDonaghNick Holden
Brady SkjeiKevin Shattenkirk
Marc StaalSteven Kampfer

PP1: Nash-Miller-Buchnevich-Zibanejad-Shattenkirk
PP2: Hayes-Desharnais-Kreider-Zuccarello-McDonagh

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Paul Carey (healthy), Brendan Smith (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: A goal for Kampfer, just because.

Game time is 7pm. Be sure to follow on Twitter for gifs, and on our Snapchat for in-game.

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