For the first time in a week, the Rangers play someone who isn’t the Islanders. This is another tough test, as the Blue Jackets are finally starting to get healthy. The Blue Jackets have a good defensive process, which as they get healthier will only improve. They do struggle to score goals, which is going to haunt them if they can’t rectify it.
For the Rangers, this plays to their strengths. We’ve seen them break through against good defensive teams, specifically the last two games against the Isles, but it’s teams that also score at will that seem to give the Rangers trouble. The Blueshirts have been mildly better defensively, so this could be a good litmus test for how they’ve progressed since the start of the season.
Blue Jackets Lines
Gustav Nyquist-Pierre Luc-Dubois-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Nathan Gerbe-Alex Wennberg-Cam Atkinson
Eric Robinson-Riley Nash-Nick Foligno
Jakob Lilja-Boone Jenner-Emil Bemstrom
Zach Werenski-Seth Jones
Vladislav Gavrikov-David Savard
Scott Harrington-Markus Nutivaara
PP1: Nyquist-Dubois-Jenner-Bjorkstrand-Werenski
PP2: Wennberg-Foligno-Atkinson-Bemstrom-Jones
Elvis Merzlikins 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–Micheal Haley
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, McKegg
PK Defense: Skjei, Trouba, Staal, Smith, Lindgren
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Scratches: Phil Di Giuseppe (healthy), Alex Georgiev (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Di Giuseppe actually plays since his recall.
Game time is 7pm.
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