The Blueshirts are back at the World’s Most Famous Arena, following their four game road trip, for a battle with the Calgary Flames. The Flames are 2-1-1 to start the season and are smack dab in the middle of their first American road trip of the season, coming off a 4-3 OT win in Washington on Saturday. The Flames are in a make or break year, the time to go all in or to sell high and start from scratch is knocking on the door, tonight should be a good test for the Rangers who hope to keep the win streak alive.
The Flames are pretty in the middle for most stats as far as power play, penalty kill and goals for and against in games played. They are however, twelve in the league in face offs, a statistic where the Rangers now officially sit in last in the league. The Rangers are coming off an exciting come from behind win in Ottawa on Saturday and are riding a hot streak. Ryan Strome skated with the team yesterday and could potentially be ready to return to action tonight, which will hopefully give not just Artemi Panarin a boost, but the team as a whole.
It’s no secret Panarin hasn’t been the usual Breadman on the ice, which speaks volumes to who he is as a player since he still has four points through six games where he hasn’t been at his best. It’s also no secret that Panarin has missed Ryan Strome through this stretch where he had to miss games due to being placed on the COVID-19 protocol list. Panarin said in an interview that he was excited about the opportunity of playing with Zibanejad but “not to get him wrong, he misses Strome.” You have to start to wonder just how important Ryan Strome may be to this team and might begin to consider this won’t be his last season in New York.
Nevertheless, the chance of Strome returning to the lineup is pretty good for tonight, however for Kaapo Kakko, the chance isn’t as high. Kakko has been out of commission since the second game of the season with an upper body injury and has been skating with the team. However, it’s likely the Rangers will handle this with a “better safe than sorry” attitude as you don’t want to risk losing Kakko any longer than you have to. He hasn’t officially been ruled out for tonight’s game but it makes so much more sense to wait till Friday against Columbus to consider using him. The extra three days with no games and more time to rehab are more beneficial in this situation.
That in mind, expect the lines for tonight to appear as follows:
Lafreniere - Zibanejad - Kreider
Panarin - Strome - Goodrow
Blais - Chytil - Gauthier
Hunt - Rooney - Reaves
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Nemeth - Lundkvist
Expect Igor Shesterkin to return to the net after Alexandar Georgiev got the nod in Ottawa on Saturday. Julien Gauthier is expected to return to the lineup as well after serving as a healthy scratch while Morgan Barron got another taste of the NHL. I gotta say, Barron has looked very good in his games since getting called up and as a result, hope that he will get more looks with the Rangers this season. With a full strength roster, it’s tough to place him in the lineup but if he keeps going through this season with that right attitude, it’s going to get to the point where the Rangers have no choice but to play him in the NHL.
We’ll get more clarity on the statuses of Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko following the team’s morning skate today but until then, expect at least Strome to be game day ready. The Rangers are going to want to look at getting off to a better start than they did in Ottawa. We know face offs have been an issue, but against teams that excel in it like Calgary you have to buckle down and beat them. The Rangers will want to keep eyes on Elias Lindholm, who has six goals through four games, including a hat trick against Washington on Saturday. As long as the Rangers continue to play their game and live out that “no quit in New York” mentality, I like their chances going forward.
Chris Feldman
Commentaires