The Rangers have now won two in a row against the Devils, playing 120 minutes of shutout hockey. They’ve looked as dominant as the Devils have looked disinterested. This is a Devils team that, at least through the first two games, doesn’t look to care that much. They unplugged through most of Thursday night’s game.

That said, this is a trap game. The Rangers always seem to look bad in the afternoon games, at least to start. They also just won two in a row, and mental lapses will happen when you think your opponent is inferior. That’s the risk in these games. Plus at some point maybe the Devils get angry?

The Rangers need these two points, since the Bruins basically refuse to lose at this point. They just beat the Isles 4-1 and 3-0 over the last two days and have won three in a row. The Rangers are keeping pace, but at some point, Boston needs to lose.

Devils Lines

Yegor Sharangovich-Jack Hughes-Janne Kuokkanen
Miles Wood-Pavel Zacha-Jesper Bratt
Andreas Johnsson-Jesper Boqvist-Marian Studenic
Mikhail Maltsev-Michael McLeod-Tyce Thompson

Will Butcher-PK Subban
Ryan Murray-Damon Severson
Ty Smith–Sami Vatanen

Mackenzie Blackwood gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin–Ryan Strome–Colin Blackwell
Alexis Lafreniere–Filip Chytil–Kaapo Kakko
Brett Howden–Kevin Rooney–Vitali Kravtsov

Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Libor Hajek–Brendan Smith

PP1: Strome-Zibanejad-Panarin-Kreider-Fox
PP2: Kakko-Buchnevich-Chytil-Blackwell-Miller

Igor Shesterkin gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Jack Johnson (sports hernia), Phil Di Giuseppe (healthy), Julien Gauthier (healthy), Zac Jones (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: Multi-point day for Kravtsov.

Game time is 12:30pm.

Share: 

More About: