In what feels like years since the last Rangers game day due to an extended holiday break from two games being postponed because of COVID, the Rangers are finally back to take on the Florida Panthers. Welcome back Rangers fans! Lots has gone on in the last week and a half, first and foremost hope everyone had a great holiday and is gearing up for a happy new year! The Blueshirts will finally play hockey for the first time since December 17th when they fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in a shootout. The team was scheduled to play the Canadiens and Red Wings right before and after the holiday break however the league has taken a bit of a pause as the ongoing pandemic continues to be an issue.
That being said, the league has made several changes, most significantly bringing back taxi squads. The Rangers announced yesterday that Morgan Barron, Jonny Brodzinski, Tim Gettinger, Adam Huska, Zac Jones and Matthew Robertson have all been assigned to their taxi squad. Couple things to note from that, Keith Kinkaid is already with the Rangers as Alexandar Georgiev is on the leagues COVID protocol list. Along with Georgiev, Ryan Lindgren, Jarred Tinordi and Kevin Rooney are all also on that list which led to the Rangers immediately promoting Zac Jones and Tim Gettinger to the Rangers roster.
So what does this mean for the Rangers as they prepare for battle down in Sunrise, FL? Well, you have to think Jones and Gettinger will make their season debuts with the team. While everybody loves Greg McKegg and Head Coach Gerard Gallant has said he was happy with how Libor Hajek has played, you have to think now is the time to get Zac Jones back in the mix and give him another look as you could make the argument he should be in the Rangers top six on any given night. Gettinger has also performed well in Hartford and deserves another look, especially with a new coach as his previous chances have all come under the watch of David Quinn.
That being said, if you had to guess the lines for tonight, I'd throw my money on:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko
Panarin - Strome - Hunt
Lafreniere - Chytil - Gauthier
Gettinger - Goodrow - Rooney
Miller - Trouba
Jones - Fox
Nemeth - Lundkvist
Igor Shesterkin, who has missed a significant amount of time with a lower body injury has also come off IR during this longer than expected break and is expected to return to the net tonight. This will be huge for the Rangers who are taking on a very good Florida team with a nearly identical record just one game less. The Rangers also have two games with the back to back Stanley Cup champions immediately following tonight's contest meaning they will certainly rely on Shesterkin to jump back in the line up without skipping a beat.
This will be the second meeting of the season between New York and Florida tonight with the Rangers winning 4-3 back in early November. While there may not be too many surprises having already played each other, tonight will certainly have a first game of the new season kind of vibe to it having been so long since the teams have played. Florida isn't too much of a threat in many of the major team stats except for goals for in games played as they average 3.55 ranking third in the league. All the more reason the Rangers will hope for a big night out of Shesterkin.
On Florida's end, they will go with Sergei Bobrovski, seasoned vet and friend of Artemi Panarin who warmed the bench while Spencer Knight got the start against the Blueshirts earlier this season. Bob has a 12-3-2 record on the season with a .917 save percentage so it'll be equally as imperative for the Rangers to pepper him with shots on goal as it will be to keep Florida from getting shots off.
Thankfully, the Rangers aren't going in too shorthanded as the season picks back up and while the hope is it'll stay that way, getting guys like Jones and Gettinger in the mix will be good to ensure quality depth within the organization, ready to go in case guys start to go down. Overall, the organization has plenty to be proud of with how the impressive start the season has gotten off to. Nevertheless, Gallant wants to go in with that 0-0-0 mentality and push his guys to be even better in the new year as there's plenty of room for improvement. Tonight will be the perfect opportunity to set the tone and prove that they are serious contenders this season.
Chris Feldman
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