The Rangers have their first afternoon game of the season today, with the late schedule change moving this one up. The Caps are a much different team than the one the Rangers beat earlier in the season, When a good number of players were out. Their forward lines are very deep and dangerous. With the Rangers blue line shorthanded, this might not look so hot on paper.
The good news is that the Rangers finally won a game the other day. One win is sometimes a confidence builder. But the only way for the Rangers to build on that win is to get the top-six moving. Until that happens, they will be a bad team. They can survive blue line injuries if they are scoring. But right now nothing is going right. It’s only a matter of time, and perhaps this is the day.
Caps Lines
Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-TJ Oshie
Jakub Vrana-Nicklas Backstrom-Tom Wilson
Connor Sheary-Lars Eller-Richard Panik
Carl Hagelin-Nic Dowd-Garnet Hathaway
Brendan Dillon-John Carlson
Zdeno Chara-Justin Schultz
Dmitry Orlov-Nick Jensen
PP1: Vrana-Backstrom-Oshie-Ovechkin-Carlson
PP2: Eller-Kuznetsov-Wilson-Orlev-Schultz
Vitek Vanecek gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Alexis Lafreniere-Mika Zibanejad-Artemi Panarin
Chris Kreider–Ryan Strome–Pavel Buchnevich
Phil Di Giuseppe–Kevin Rooney-Colin Blackwell
Brendan Lemieux–Brett Howden-Julien Gauthier
Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Brendan Smith
Libor Hajek–Anthony Bitetto
PP1: Strome-Zibanejad-Panarin-Kreider-Fox
PP2: Lafreniere-Kakko-Buchnevich-Lemieux-Miller
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Filip Chytil (upper body), Jacob Trouba (thumb), Kaapo Kakko (COVID list), Jack Johnson (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Mika Zibanejad hat trick.
Game time is 12:30pm.
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