It's Rangers game day and the Blueshirts are back at it for another original six matchup at the Garden against the Detroit Red Wings. Not only will this be the first meeting between the two since before COVID, this will be Marc Staal's first time back at the Garden since being traded. Staal, who spent the majority of his career with the Rangers will undoubtedly be greeted with a warm welcome and a standing o, likely accompanied with a presentation on the World's Most Famous Jumbotron.
The Rangers are coming off a thrilling shootout win against Boston in their first game following the break, looking to build another win streak. While it wasn't the Rangers best showing as far as playing a complete game goes, the team shook off the rust more and more as the game went on. Filip Chytil, who benefited a bit extra from the extended time off now feels fully recovered from his injury and it certainly showed in one of his best performances of the season. One way of looking at the bright side is it was that third line that looked the best out of all four on Tuesday night. Hopefully, the rest of the group, primarily their top players will come out swinging tonight with a game under their belt.
The Red Wings are 3-2 in their last five, currently sitting one spot outside the playoff picture with a five hundred record at 22-22-6. Detroit's a young team with some big name rookies that can be a huge threat as this team is one hot streak away from pushing to take the last wildcard spot away from Boston. On top of their young talent, Dylan Larkin will certainly be a player for the Rangers to keep an eye on as he currently has ten points in his last five, including three goals and seven assists. The team as a whole doesn't score many goals as they are 21st in the league in goals for but they do have a tendency to let in a good amount, averaging about three and a half goals per game.
As for the lines, anticipate the Rangers to roll with the same lineup as Tuesday Night:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Lafreniere
Panarin - Strome - Goodrow
Hunt - Chytil - Gautheir
McKegg - Rooney - Reaves
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Jones - Lundkvist
Expect Igor Shesterkin to start in goal again for the Rangers, likely going up against Alex Nedeljkovic. Interestingly enough, while the Red Wings have a 500 record, both goals are also squared up with Nedeljkovic being 14-14-5 and Thomas Greiss going 7-7-1. Tonight will be a good opportunity for the Rangers to score some goals, especially if Detroit runs into penalty trouble as their PK units aren't often all that successful (23rd in the league). The Rangers can't take them lightly. They need to put extra pressure on the forecheck when Mo Seider is on the ice and clean up defensively when Lucas Raymond is out there. If the Rangers play their game and get the goals going, there's no reason they can't walk out of the Garden with another win.
Chris Feldman
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