The Rangers, with three days rest following that abysmal showing against San Jose, have another winnable matchup today against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus is improving for sure, and have much more offense this year than in years past, but ares till not deep enough up front or on the blue line to compete with teams like the Rangers regularly. That said, they have enough top end talent to win, much like San Jose did on Thursday.
Vitali Kravtsov is back in the lineup as the Rangers bottom six continues to rotate. Expect that to be a rotation for the next few months as Gerard Gallant figures out what he has with the 7 players currently rotating in the 6 spots. Kravtsov should be a “lock” on the third line when he plays, but he should get games off here and there as he adjusts to the NHL style of play. At least the Rangers have mostly viable NHLers to rotate through.
Blue Jackets Lines
Johnny Gaudreau-Boone Jenner-Gustav Nyquist
Kent Johnson-Jack Roslovic-Jakub Voracek
Justin Danforth-Cole Sillinger-Yegor Chinakov
Eric Robinson-Sean Kuraly-Mathieu Olivier
Zach Werenski-Nick Blankenburg
Vladislav Gavrikov-Andrew Peeke
Jake Bean-Eric Gudbranson
Daniil Tarasov gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Kaapo Kakko
Artemiy Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere
Barclay Goodrow-Filip Chytil-Vitali Kravtsov
Sammy Blais-Ryan Carpenter-Ryan Reaves
Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones-Braden Schneider
Jaro Halak gets the start.
Injuries: None
Crazy Prediction: All 4 of the kids get a point.
Game time is 5pm.
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