Your Friday Night Matchup

As mentioned last week, and as will be likely be mentioned every week until April, the Metropolitan Division is tighter than Ron Duguay’s blazers. Despite a divisional matchup week last week for the Rangers, there hasn’t been much movement going on either way, so the Rangers just need to keep their heads up and win win win.

Here’s what the Divison standings look like as of Sunday night:

The Rangers are still shy of the playoffs, but certainly not out of the picture entirely – surprisngly, nobody really is with the division being separated by only ten points. The Rangers have four games this week, starting tonight, against mostly subpar opponents. The question will be whether they can cash in on easier games. The second question is if Henrik Lundqvist will play every game (my vote’s on yes).

Let’s take a look at the opponents.

Tonight, December 11 vs. Dallas Stars (16-13-1), 7:00pm

The Stars sport a similar record to the Rangers, with fewer goals for but a similar goals against. After having a semi-tragic few seasons of goaltending, the Stars signed former Lightning goalie Ben Bishop, who hasn’t quite lived up to his reputation so far. Bishop boasts a .909 save percentage this season, and backup Kari Lehtonen has a .903 save percentage through ten games played.

The usual suspects are good for Dallas: Tyler Seguin (28 points), Jamie Benn (25), and defensive star John Klingberg (25), with newcomer Alexander Radulov contributing another 25 points. This should be a fun, high scoring affair to spice up a Monday night.

Wednesday, December 13 at Ottawa Senators (9-12-7), 7:00pm

What a fall from grace the Sens have faced this season. Between mismanagement of players, inept defense and a general feeling of malaise throughout the fanbase, this is a team that might just be hanging up the skates til next season. Acquiring Matt Duchene has done almost nothing to help the anemic offense (though Kyle Turris is doing well in Nashville, so not sure what that means), and the Sens are coming off a West Coast road trip that handed them four losses outright.

The Sens will have played Buffalo the night before they face the Rangers, so it is likely they’ll face Mike Condon. It shouldn’t matter though: the Rangers healthy offense should roll against a defense in serious need of a shake up. Oh and, did I mention that the Canadian media is buzzing about a potential Erik Karlsson trade? This should be a gimme for the Rangers, even if it is on the road.

Friday, December 15 vs. Los Angeles Kings (20-8-3), 7:00pm

This game… will not be fun. The Kings lead the Western Conference with 43 points (as of Sunday night) and have always given the Rangers fits. Anze Kopitar will probably never slow down, as he’s got 38 points in 31 games played at age 30. Kopitar was recently put on a line with Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson; the line yielded six points in their win over Carolina on Saturday.

The Kings have won eight in a row, and will only face the Devils between now and Friday night. Jonathan Quick is still the starting goalie, the Rangers have lots of experience there, and will need to be on top of their game to take two from this contest.

Saturday, December 16 at Boston Bruins (14-9-4). 5:00pm

First of all, who scheduled this game? We should probably have a chat about a back-to-back with travel less than 24 hours apart. But I digress…

The Bruins are another team with a similar record to the Rangers, with slightly better xGF% and possession numbers. Tuukka Rask is still the goalie on record, but new backup Anton Khudobin has surprisingly good numbers and the same amount of wins (7) as Rask. Noted offensively-skilled pest Brad Marchand, who continually toes the line of clean vs. dirty hit, will also be playing after narrowly dodging league discipline due to a sketchy hit on John Tavares.

The difficulty here will lie within the Rangers playing 1- on the road and 2- so quickly after a tough night game less than 24 hours earlier. Sure, the boys in blue dazzle us at the Garden, and considering their schedule to open the season, we’re all grateful. Their road record is below .500, though, at 4-6-0. This’ll be a tough contest to improve that record.

Predictions

NYR 5 – DAL 3

NYR 4 – OTT 1

NYR 1 – LA 4

NYR 2 – BOS 3 (OT)

If the Rangers are able to get three points out of their two road games this week, I’ll be a happy camper. Again, all this team needs to do is keep their heads up, avoid stupid penalties, and win. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and I hope that’s resonating within the locker room.

As always, leave your predictions in the comments.

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