As "rival week" continues, the Rangers look to get back on track tonight in Jersey as they meet with the Devils for the final time this season. The last time the Rangers played hockey in Newark was a night they probably opted to forget about entirely, as the game got very out of hand and resulted in a 7-4 Rangers loss . The Rangers still have the upper hand on the season series with Jersey, however the Devils will have the chance to even it up tonight on home ice.
The Devils are statistically the second to worst team in the East this season and will not make the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. They are however, playing for the future. They have a surplus of young talent leading the way for them and they're certainly going to view this as a big game. Not only is this a season finale for the Hudson River Rivalry but the Devils have only won six games in the last month and are currently 2-7-1 in their last ten.
The Rangers can't play down to their level as they need to bounce back from the two losses over the weekend. Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt and Dawson Mercer are all guys the Rangers are going to want to watch out for. Hughes has five goals in his last five games and Mercer has four assists in the same stretch. Jesper Bratt leads the team in assists, can score goals just as easily and that's without even mentioning Nico Hischier, Pavel Zacha and Yegor Sharangovich who are all responsible for scoring against the Rangers throughout the season.
On the Rangers side of things, this could potentially be a big week for them as far as reinforcements go. Kaapo Kakko and Kevin Rooney, who have both missed extended amounts of time could be making their returns to the line up at some point this week, if not tonight. Ryan Strome who has now missed four games could also make his return so the lineup will remain in question until morning skate or even up to game time. The record over their last ten has taken a hit after this weekend however still looks pretty good at 6-3-1.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say we could expect all three to return tonight as the game against Pittsburgh on Thursday holds higher stakes and may not be the ideal match up to have a whole line of guys getting their feet back in the water. Assuming they do all return tonight, the lines could look like:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vatrano
Panarin - Strome - Copp
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Motte - Rooney - Goodrow
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Nemeth - Schneider
If those guys don't return to the lineup, I'd expect a similar line up to Sunday Night except with Dryden Hunt potentially replacing Brodzinski or Gauthier. With Shesterkin's confidence being a little shaken, it's probably in his best interest to play all three games this week. The Rangers have a back to back next week where Georgiev can get in and another one the last week of the season. Essentially, Shesterkin should play all of this week and then get two of the three games every week remaining in the season.
Tonight should definitely be a rallying point for the Rangers who for the most part this season, don't lose more than a couple games in a row. With twelve games remaining in the regular season the energy in the locker room should be at an all time high as they gear up for the playoffs. The Devils have one of the worst goals against averages in the league which should be all the more incentive for the Rangers to have themselves a stat night. Look for the Blueshirts to come out strong and have a much better outing than the last couple of performances.
Chris Feldman
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