The Rangers are back at it after a two day stretch between games as they head out on a brief road trip trip, kicking off in the Pure State against the Detroit Red Wings. Following the end of the Rangers win streak, they are now 0-1-1 in their last two, meaning they will be hungry to get back in the win column with a great opportunity to do so in Detroit. This won't come as an easy task by any means as the Red Wings are red hot, having only lost two games in the month of February, going 7-3-0 in their last ten. As a result, the Wings are not very much in the playoff conversation as they are just one point behind the Penguins, two points out of a wild card spot.
While fewer teams and players are hotter than the Red Wings right now, Artemi Panarin is certainly in that conversation with eleven points in his last five games. (6 goals, 5 assists) He will look to keep the points coming as he has seemed to lock in pretty well with Trocheck and Tarasenko on that second line. For the Red Wings, it's been lesser known names carrying the load as of late. Pius Suter and Robbie Fabbri among their point leaders through their last five. Detroit is showing good signs of creeping out of the rebuild stage and into the the next phase, making for tonight's game against them a good test for the Rangers who haven't seen much adversity as of late.
Despite a maintenance day for the Breadman at yesterday's practice, the lines all looked the same meaning we can expect the following once again tonight:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vesey
Panarin - Trocheck - Tarasenko
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Goodrow - Leschyshyn - Motte
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Mikkola - Schneider
Despite running into one of the league's best goalies in a big game, the Rangers looked pretty good in their recent outing with Winnipeg. However, Igor Shesterkin was among the largest storylines as he didn't play well and has been struggling a bit lately. After neglecting to speak to the media following the loss, Shesterkin addressed the situation, indicating frustration about his recent play. He also mentioned how he doesn't want to talk much about it and would rather play the game and get back to winning. (Per Vince Mercogliano, NYR reporter, USA Today, Lohud, etc). Again, I have no issue with Shesterkin opting to not speak with the media and am not worried about his game in the slightest. It will be interesting however to see which approach they take with him in the coming five games.
With a pair of back to back's in the mix, it's fair to assume Halak will see at least two of those games. Could the Rangers look at this stretch as an opportunity to give Igor a bit of a break and let Halak see three of these games? Or is the most effective approach with him to just ride out the storm and keep playing until it's over. With Igor, I would assume the latter is more likely so I'd expect him to get the start tonight as well as Saturday in Washington and one of the two games Wednesday or Thursday. For the Red Wings, expect to see Ville Husso across the ice as he has been their guy all season long, tied for fourth in the league with shutouts.
The Rangers last saw the Red Wings in early November when they beat them in Detroit by a dominant score of 8-2. The Rangers shook off a three game losing streak in that showing, one of which came in an overtime loss to the Red Wings where the Blueshirt's blew a 2-0 lead in the second period. This was all before the Rangers really turned their season around and with the Red Wings picking up their game too, we should be in for a great night of original-six hockey.
Chris Feldman
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