The Rangers have looked pretty bad the last two games, and get a gift of an opportunity to try to stop that slide tonight. Ottawa is really bad, both on and off the ice. This is a team that can’t stay out of the news for all the wrong reasons. It doesn’t help that the on ice product is atrocious as well. This is a chance for the Rangers to dominate, but it’s also a trap game.
Ottawa is a classic example of overreacting to unsustainable success. They snuck into the 2016 playoffs and made a run that was buoyed by Erik Karlsson and terrible coaching from the opposition (see: Vigneault, Alain). They assumed they were ready to be contenders, when they weren’t even close. It was a well timed run on an incredibly flawed team. Now, they are where they are. It’s a lesson that Jeff Gorton is hoping to avoid.
The blue line rotation continues, as Tony DeAngelo is back in the lineup tonight. Freddy Claesson, the Blueshirts’ steadiest defenseman this season, comes out of the lineup to make room. There’s a logjam there, so things like this will happen regularly.
Sens Lines
Tom Pyatt-Matt Duchene-Drake Batherson
Brady Tkachuk-Colin White-Mark Stone
Ryan Dzingel-Zack Smith-Bobby Ryan
Mikkel Boedker-Chris Tierney-Magnus Paajarvi
Thomas Chabot-Dylan Demelo
Maxime Lajoie-Christian Jaros
Ben Harpur-Cody Ceci
PP1: White-Tkachuk-Stone-Ryan-Chabot
PP2: Boedker-Duchene-Dzingel-Batherson-Lajoie
Craig Anderson gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Filip Chytil–Mika Zibanejad–Vlad Namestnikov
Chris Kreider–Kevin Hayes–Jesper Fast
Jimmy Vesey–Brett Howden–Ryan Strome
Tim Gettinger–Lias Andersson–Steven Fogarty
Brady Skjei-Tony DeAngelo
Marc Staal–Neal Pionk
Brendan Smith-Kevin Shattenkirk
PP1: Zibanejad-Namestnikov-Kreider-Chytil-Pionk
PP2: Hayes-Howden-Vesey-Strome-Shattenkirk
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Adam McQuaid (lower body), Pavel Buchnevich (thumb), Fredrik Claesson (healthy), Cody McLeod (hand), Mats Zuccarello (groin)
Crazy Prediction: No goals from the Ovechkin spot.
Game time is 7pm.
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