The Rangers are in San Jose tonight in what will be their last 10pm start time of the year. In fact, I think it’s the last game that starts after 8pm, which is even better. It’s been tough going on this trip though, as the Rangers look lackluster, unmotivated, and overall bad. Part of it is Covid protocol impacting their already thin lineup. They won’t win if they are dressing Greg McKegg on a regular basis. While that does exacerbate the quality of the roster, it isn’t helping that the guys at the top of the lineup can’t put the puck in the net at even strength. Heck, they can’t even generate sustained offensive chances.
So the Rangers are faced with a two headed monster. They first must play better. There is no reason for some of their top guys to be playing the way they are. We can explain away the bottom six due to Covid protocol, but the top six? Nope. There shouldn’t be any leash there. They need to perform. The second is they must find whatever combination works for both the top six and the remnants of the bottom six. If they don’t shake things up, then we won’t know what the Rangers truly need in a trade.
Beating bad teams like San Jose is also a start.
Sharks Lines
Alex Barabanov-Tomas Hertl-Timo Meier
Jonathan Dahlen-Logan Couture-Noah Gregor
Andrew Cogliano-Jasper Weatherby-Matt Nieto
Jeff Viel-Nick Merkley-Adam Raska
Mario Ferraro-Brent Burns
Jaycob Megna-Erik Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Ryan Merkley
Adin Hill gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Kaapo Kakko
Artemiy Panarin-Ryan Strome–Filip Chytil
Greg McKegg–Kevin Rooney–Anthony Greco
Tim Gettinger–Morgan Barron-Jonny Brodzinski
K’Andre Miller–Jacob Trouba
Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
Patrik Nemeth-Braden Schneider
PP1: Strome-Zibanejad-Panarin-Kreider-Fox
PP2: ??-Chytil-Kakko-Miller-Trouba
Alex Georgiev gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Sammy Blais (knee – done for season), Libor Hajek (healthy), Julien Gauthier (Covid protocol), Ryan Reaves (Covid protocol), Alexis Lafreniere (Covid protocol), Lauri Pajuniemi (healthy), Jarred Tinordi (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: They actually score more than once at even strength.
Game time is 10:30pm.
Share:
More About:Game Thread