It's Wednesday Night Hockey and the Rangers are back at it against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Rangers will hope the luck of the Irish gets them back on track as they look to tie up the season series with the Flyers. It seems the Rangers will go into tonight again without Buchnevich, Fox and Di Giuseppe but it does seem that Anthony Bitetto may be returning to action as he is back and skating with the team. Another headline for tonight is Alexandar Georgiev's shot at redemption.
The young Bulgarian goaltender has struggled in his recent outings, being pulled twice and not playing as sharp as he has throughout his previous seasons with the New York Rangers. David Quinn is looking to get his confidence and mind set back as it is desperately needed with Igor Sheshterkin still out with his mild groin strain. You have to think that Georgiev will come into this game with a chip on his shoulder, looking to prove something. If the Rangers play like they did Monday and clean up the mistakes from it, there is no reason they shouldn't come out on top in this game.
Other than him participating in yesterday's practice, there's been no official update on Bitetto and really no word on if they plan to bring him back to the line up. If they do decide to play him tonight, or any night in the future, it needs to be Libor Hajek that he replaces. Tarmo Reunanen had a stellar outing in his NHL debut and unless he starts to struggle, should continue on that third pairing with Brendan Smith. That being said, expect tonight's line up to more or less stay the same:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko
Panarin - Strome - Blackwell
Lafreniere - Chytil - Gauthier
Lemieux - Rooney - Howden
Miller - Trouba
Lingren - Hajek (maybe Bitetto)
Reunanen - Smith
Gauthier still should be given a look on that first line but with all the penalties he took Monday, it is understandable why he hasn't been given the chance yet. It's no secret the Rangers need more from Kakko, especially with Buchnevich out. If Gauthier stays out of the box and has a strong game, look for him to potentially get a look on that top line. With Panarin back now, don't be surprised if Quinn keeps Blackwell on that second line, at least until Kravtsov is able to join the team.
I had an interesting thought this morning, and quite possibly a very hot take. Leslie Treff of NY Sportsday tweeted last night: "It appears that Mason Geertsen is being coverted from a blueliner to a forward in anticipation of him becoming a winger in the NHL." If this is the case, and he excels at the transition.. what if we call him up as a fourth line winger? Geersten, is in his sixth season in the AHL and while the chances of him having an NHL career are a little unlikely, I could see him making the transition to forward and getting the call up in an enforcer type roll. Geertsen currently has 16 penalty minutes in 6 games and pretty much leads his team in fighting majors each season. Not suggesting that those are stats worthy of a call up but this Rangers team lacks toughness and especially with all the young talent we have, we can use a Tanner Glass type guy on the fourth line. Not to mention if Lemieux continues to have a lack of production, Geertsen's contract is a little more cap friendly than Lemieux's.
However that is not an overnight transition so getting back to tonight, expect the Rangers to have a much stronger outing tonight. They didn't skate for two days prior to Monday's game and while that is not a valid excuse, it still accounts for how the game started. As the game went on they looked better and better and after the disappointing overtime loss, they're going to be hungry for a win. Their penalty kill definitely took a hit with Buchnevich and Fox being out of the line up, easiest way to fix that is to not take penalties. If the Rangers can stay out of the box and Georgiev can get back on track, the Rangers should be heading to Washington at the end of the night with a win in their pockets.
Chris Feldman
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