The Rangers, winners of three in ten and zero of of their last three, are now in San Jose to cap off their brutal Pacific Coast trip. There’s been a ton of mediocre play, and that’s putting it lightly. Luckily for the Blueshirts, they’ve caught San Jose without Joe Thornton, so their vaunted forward group took a major hit.

When it comes to playoff hopes, the Blueshirts are already on the outside looking in, as the Penguins roared back into the playoffs with a huge PDO correction that is currently ongoing. They have a game in hand on the Pens, but are two points behind them. The rest of the teams in the playoffs all have games in hand on the Blueshirts. It’s not looking good, if you were hoping for a miracle run. If you’re hoping for selling, then perhaps you’re getting your wish. I’m hoping for selling, but I can’t root against my team.

Sharks Systems

Pete DeBoer is has the Sharks playing a 1-2-2 forecheck which they would use aggressively in the offensive zone or passively in the neutral zone as a trap depending on game situation. In the defensive zone, Deboer uses a hybrid overload/zone defensive system depending on whether the puck is along the boards or at mid-ice. On special teams, the DeBoer goes with an umbrella/1-3-1 power play and a  box/diamond penalty kill.

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

Sharks Lines

Timo Meier-Joe Pavelski-Mikkel Boedker
Tomas Hertl-Logan Couture-Kevin Lablanc
Melker Karlsson-Chris Tierney-Joonas Donskoi
Marcus Sorensen-Barclay Goodrow-Joel Ward

Joakim Ryan-Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon-Dylan Demelo

PP1: Couture-Pavelski-Donskoi-Hertl-Burns
PP2: Meier-Lebanc-Tierney-Boedker-Vlasic

Aaron Dell gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Rick NashMika ZibanejadPavel Buchnevich
Mats ZuccarelloJT MillerVinny Lettieri
Jimmy VeseyDavid DesharnaisPaul Carey
Michael GrabnerPeter HollandJesper Fast

Ryan McDonagh–Nick Holden
Brady SkjeiBrendan Smith
Marc StaalTony DeAngelo

PP1: Nash-Zuccarello-Buchnevich-Zibanejad-McDonagh
PP2: Vesey-Miller-Desharnais-Skjei-DeAngelo

Ondrej Pavelec gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Chris Kreider (blood clot), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee),  Steven Kampfer (healthy), Kevin Hayes (contusion), Cody McLead (probably hasn’t arrived yet)

Crazy Prediction: A shift to focusing on introducing quantity of shots into the system.

Game time is 10pm. Be sure to follow on our Snapchat for in-game shenanigans.

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