The Rangers are back at it following a disappointing stretch of losses on the road. They wrap up their road trip with one more showdown against Boston before heading home for two games against Philly. New York needs urgency, they need to completely forget about Thursday night's game and come in this afternoon with the attitude that they are not going to lose this game.
One thing we know for sure going heading into today is Keith Kinkaid will get the start in net. Keith once again, did not allow any goals when coming in to relieve Alexandar Georgiev of his duties in the second period of Thursday nights massacre. The Rangers will need him to be strong and he's done a pretty good job of doing so thus far. Artemi Panarin will be a game time decision which quite frankly, unless there is some physical disadvantage going on that we don't know about, there should be no question to him playing. Where does that leave the lines?
Well, we know David Quinn likes to play the KZB line against Boston, (Kreider, Zibanejad and Buchnevich). We also know that if Panarin goes he will be on the wing of Ryan Strome as that's what David Quinn said post practice yesterday. A line of Lafreniere, Chytil and Kakko was tested during the last game and is one DQ has "been experimenting with" so don't be surprised if that is the third line this afternoon. That leaves the second line right wing spot vacant and the fourth line, as usual, up in the air.
There should be no question to who has earned that second line spot, at least to start the game. Julien Gauthier has been playing so well and with the most confidence we've seen from him since being acquired from Carolina in the Joey Keane trade. Not only is he most deserving, it would definitely be exciting to see what he can do on a line with Strome and Panarin. This could also be the first game we see without Quinn's favorite forward, Brett Howden. If Panarin is in fact good to go and the Rangers for the first time since early in the season have all their forward options, don't be surprised if this is Howden's first game as a healthy scratch.
If Quinn rolls with that young gun third line, Kevin Rooney falls down to the fourth line and you would have to have a real good argument to justify Brett Howden's contributions over Kevin Rooney's. Both players have been stellar on the penalty kill but with your star player returning and being at full strength with your team, there is no room for both of them in the line up. Kevin Rooney should absolutely be centering that fourth line with Brendan Lemieux and either Conor Blackwell or Phil Di Giuseppe.
The Rangers best bet for this afternoon:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Buchnevich
Panarin - Strome - Gauthier
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Lemieux - Rooney - Blackwell/PDG
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Johnson - Smith
Libor Hajek was in for Johnson, who is still nagging an injury on Thursday but again, wouldn't be surprised if they return to the veteran for this critical afternoon match up. It can't be overstated how badly the Rangers need to win despite still being considered in the end of a rebuild. The goal for this season was to stick to the long term plan but to compete while doing so and these last three games certainly did not give the impression of competing aside from the third period in Pittsburgh. Rangers need to do the little things right and focus one play at a time, starting from puck drop. Focus on winning that first face off, then focus on getting the Bruins zone, focus on generating offense and take it from there.
Chris Feldman
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