The Rangers kick off 2022 with a back to back at home before hitting the road to take on Vegas and all the California teams. Tonight, they will host the Edmonton Oilers who they last saw on November 5th in a sloppy overtime loss. The Oilers have struggled since the holiday/COVID break, having not won a game since prior to it when they beat Seattle 5-3 on the 18th of December. Since play has returned, the Oilers have lost 4-2 to the Blues as well as back to back overtime losses to the Devils and Islanders. The Rangers will look to finish the Metropolitan sweep and build up a streak of their own.
Now the first thing that comes to mind whenever there's a back to back set of games is the goaltending situation. It's rare for the same goalie to play in both games but frankly, if there was ever a time to do so, it's now. For starters, Shesterkin is official on a "you know what" streak, so why not give him the chance to keep it going? Secondly, Georgiev saw the Oilers in their first meeting of the season and allowed six goals on almost 40 shots. What it all comes down to is it makes too much sense to play your hot, star goaltender against a team that has not only the best player in the league, but also the like, 5th best player in the league.
Now you could make the argument that Igor is still just getting going after injury and you don't want to risk overusing him and re-aggravating the injury. However, with the back to back being at home, requiring no travel on top of the fact that the first game was an afternoon one, creating more time for rest, I think it's safe to ride Shesterkin. As far as any other possible lineup changes are concerned for New York, I wouldn't really expect any. It's still unclear what's going on with Patrik Nemeth other than it being something personal but either way Gallant didn't seem confident he would be back for this one.
With that in mind, unless Gallant decides to get Barron back in the mix, expect the same group to go against the Oilers tonight:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko
Lafreniere - Strome - Goodrow
Hunt - Chytil - Gauthier
Gettinger - McKegg - Reaves
Miller - Trouba
Hajek - Fox
Jones - Lundkvist
You have to think and hope that Ryan Lindgren as well as Kevin Rooney are close to a return, especially with the leagues updated COVID protocols but there hasn't been much update on that. On a similar note, you have to hope Panarin won't miss too much time from this and that he's feeling alright. With the new Omnicron variant spreading as quickly as it has, you have to be prepared and understand that a lineup can change at the drop of the hat. Luckily for the Rangers, they have plenty of enticing names on the taxi squad and that next man up mentality is key for this team in the event of someone becoming unavailable.
I mentioned earlier how the Oilers have struggled as of late, making it all the more imperative for the Rangers to come out fast and come out strong as they ride high off two wins against a good team. Playing physical, getting pucks on net and aggravating Conor McDavid are going to be the keys to this one. The Rangers young defenseman will have a great challenge on their hands and will need to bunker down on playing their game in order to be successful tonight. If the team plays like they did last night and can keep Edmonton's chances to a minimum, there's no reason they can't head off on their road trip with some swagger. Keep an eye on Lafreniere, who's looked good in his last couple of games tonight.
Chris Feldman
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