The Rangers season couldn’t have started any better, as the Blueshirts dominated the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. They now travel to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets, a team that is not expected to be in the playoff hunt this season. They have talent up front though, so if the Blueshirts sleep on them, it could be costly.
Since this is an expected adjustment period for the Blueshirts, banking points in their easier part of the schedule is a necessity. What happened on Thursday will hopefully be the standard come playoff time, but in October we should see some inconsistencies. The elite talent up front and in net should mask those issues, especially against teams like Columbus. But the effort does need to be there. If Thursday was an indication of things to come, then the effort will never be a question again.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin-Filip Chytil-Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle-Vincent Trocheck-Blake Wheeler
Barclay Goodrow-Nick Bonino-Jimmy Vesey
Erik Gustafsson-Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones-Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Blue Jackets Lines
Johnny Gaudreau-Boone Jenner-Kirill Marchenko
Adam Fantilli-Patrik Laine-Alex Texier
Justin Danforth-Cole Sillinger-Kent Johnston
Liam Foudy-Sean Kuraly-Mathieu Olivier
Adam Boqvist-David Jiricek
Ivan Provorov-Damon Severson
Jake Bean-Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins gets the start.
Injuries: Ryan Lindgren (something?)
Crazy Prediction: Shutout for Shesty.
Game time is 7pm.
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