The Rangers are home against a very good and heating up Colorado Avalanche team tonight, and there are a pair of storylines in this one that go beyond the game. The first is Igor Shesterkin’s first NHL start, as we get our first look the heir apparent to Henrik Lundqvist. The second is the Avs and the Rangers have been linked in the past at the trade deadline and the draft. Chris Kreider’s name keeps coming up, but I don’t think that’s a fit anymore.
The Rangers have been getting closer to league average defensively of late, which is a good thing. Their recent string of losses, believe it or not, is due to bad goaltending, a rarity for the Blueshirts. If the goaltending comes along the way it should, and the defensive play continues to improve, we may actually see fewer track meets. In theory.
Avs Lines
Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen
Matt Calvert-Nazem Kadri-Valeri Nichushkin
Adre Burakovsky-JT Compher-Joonas Donskoi
Tyson Jost-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Matt Nieto
Ryan Graves-Cale Makar
Sam Girard-Erik Johnson
Ian Cole-Nikita Zadorov
PP1: Rantanen-Donskoi-Burakovsky-MacKinnon-Makar
PP2: Landeskog-Kadri-Compher-MacKinnon-Girard
Philipp Grubauer gets the start.
Rangers Lines (best guess)
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin–Ryan Strome–Jesper Fast
Brett Howden–Filip Chytil–Kaapo Kakko
Brendan Smith–Greg McKegg–Steven Fogarty
Brady Skjei–Jacob Trouba
Marc Staal–Tony DeAngelo
Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
PP1: Panarin-Zibanejad-Strome-Kreider-DeAngelo
PP2: Kakko-Buchnevich-Lemieux/Chytil-Trouba-Fox
PK Forwards: Fast, Kreider, Strome, Howden, Lemieux
PK Defense: Skjei, Trouba, Staal, Smith
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Scratches: Libor Hajek (knee), Micheal Haley (healthy), Alex Georgiev (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: A shutout for Shesterkin in his first start.
Game time is 7:30pm.
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