Admin note: I looked at the March calendar, not February. My bad.
Distractions? What distractions? The Rangers have a game tonight against the Buffalo Sabres Pittsburgh Penguins, who beat them in OT over the weekend. This sparked the locker room controversy that led to Tony DeAngelo’s waiving.
At this point, it doesn’t matter what the other team is or how they are performing. The Rangers need to get their house in order. They’ve been complacent in far too many aspects of the game on the ice (let’s focus on that). They are inconsistent in their neutral zone pressure and defensive zone coverages. Add in that they aren’t shooting or scoring nearly as much as last year, and it’s a recipe for disaster.
Get the house in order. That’s on the coaching staff.
Penguins Lines
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Kasperi Kapanen
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin–Bryan Rust
Jared McCann-Mark Jankowski-Brandon Tanev
Evan Rodrigues-Teddy Blueger-Colton Sceviour
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
John Marino-Cody Ceci
Pierre-Oliver Joseph-Kevin Czuczman
PP1: Crosby-Malkin-Rust-Guentzel-Letang
PP2: Zucker-McCann-Rodrigues-Kapanen-Marino
Tristan Jarry the start.
Rangers Lines (projected)
Alexis Lafreniere-Mika Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin–Ryan Strome–Phil Di Giuseppe
Chris Kreider–Brett Howden–Julien Gauthier
Brendan Lemieux–Kevin Rooney-Jonny Brodzinski
K’Andre Miller–Jacob Trouba
Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
Brendan Smith–Anthony Bitetto
PP1: Panarin-Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Lafreniere-Fox
PP2: Lafreniere-Strome-Kreider-Kakko-Trouba
PK Forwards: Kreider, Strome, Howden, Zibanejad
PK Defense: Trouba, Smith, Lindgren, Fox
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Filip Chytil (upper body), Jack Johnson (lower body), Kaapo Kakko (COVID), Colin Blackwell (upper body)
Crazy Prediction: A fight with the *other* team.
Game time is 7pm.
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