It’s Pride Night at the Garden as the Rangers host the Vegas Golden Knights for the final game before their lengthy All-Star break. After falling to the Leafs in overtime Wednesday Night, the Blueshirt’s will look to head into break on a positive note which won’t come easy against a team like Vegas. Vegas has been one of the top teams in the Western Conference this season but recently, a different expansion team has taken first place in the Pacific from them in the Seattle Kraken. Vegas has definitely hit a bump in the road as of late, having only gone 4-5-1 in their last ten. They’ve had a couple days off after falling to the Devils in overtime Tuesday Night which means you can expect them to come into the Garden fresh and ready to go tonight.
This will be the last regular season meeting of the two teams as the last time the Rangers played the Golden Knights, they were on their west coast road trip and picked up a 5-1 win. One of the good things from that win that is highly relevant going into tonight’s game was the success of the Kid Line who each had a goal in that 5-1 win and are coming off one of their best games of the season Wednesday Night. They will be one of the biggest things to keep an eye on tonight, especially in terms of where they stand in the rotation and how their ice time is managed. From what we saw in Toronto and given how well they did in the first run with Vegas, there’s no reason for them not to be the line that starts the game tonight and one that sees a great deal of ice time throughout the night. However, it doesn’t appear that the lines will differ much from how they looked toward the end of Wednesday NIght’s games as today’s morning skate lines consisted of:
Panarin - Zibanejad - Vesey
Kreider - Trocheck - Goodrow
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Cuylle - Leschyshyn - Gauthier
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Harpur - Schneider
While the forward lines seem to change every other day, one thing that hasn’t changed at all since December is the Rangers defensive pairs and some news regarding one of those defenders dropped yesterday afternoon. Ben Harpur, who came to Hartford, not even New York, on a professional tryout, has been a mainstay on that third defensive pair ever since his call up. Yesterday, the team announced that they have extended him to a two-year, league minimum extension, locking him up for the next two seasons. With roster news comes plenty of debate amongst the fanbase and the consensus of this signing was certainly mixed.
Many people expressed concerns that this means the Rangers are happy with Harpur on the third pair and trust him in that position moving forward. Which to an extent, is true. However, you have to think it is still in the organization's plans to improve at that position come the trade deadline. For as great as Harpur has been as a sixth defenseman, the team is, as they have been all season, one injury away from having to move Schneider up to the top four. God forbid an injury occurs to Miller or Lindgren who is a bit prone to them, then it would likely be Harpur or Hajek moving up which would leave the Rangers one more injury away from an utter disaster. Last year, the team brought in Justin Braun to add a veteran presence to the bottom pair and you have to think they will look to make a move like that again at this year's trade line.
This extension does leave fans wondering about the future of Zac Jones as he has been buried in the AHL since the Rangers found what they were looking for in Ben Harpur. I wouldn’t be surprised if he follows the path of Morgan Barron and ends up being a part of a trade but regardless, it shouldn’t be too much of a concern that the Rangers locked Harpur up. Similarly to the Vesey extension, this is league minimum money which helps the Rangers cap situation. If Harpur ends up playing 35-55 games a season as the team’s sixth defenseman and the team continues to be in the playoff picture, there’s no reason to think too much about it. The hope is that the Rangers can lock up Miller, Lindgren and eventually Schneider long term and assuming that ends up being the case, it does not matter much who the sixth defender will be. As long as the Rangers continue to buy someone at the deadline to increase their depth at the position, it’s not a concerning problem.
Alongside Vegas’ struggles as of late have involved Head Coach Bruce Cassidy needing more from his top players, specifically, Jack Eichel. In 36 games played this season, Eichel is averaging just south of a point a game but when you have the caliber of being a star player, the expectations are always going to be high. As of late, it’s been some usual names for Vegas leading the way. William Karlsson, Chandler Stephenson and Alex Pietrangelo. To some surprise, Reilly Smith is the team’s leading goal scorer with 18 on the year. Had it not been for contract extensions, I stand by the take that a package of Reilly Smith, Chandler Stephenson and Brayden McNabb would have been the PERFECT trade deadline pick up last year.
Nevertheless, they’ll be the enemy tonight and speaking of enemies, Alec Martinez will be another defender to keep an eye on as he leads the team in plus/minus over the last five games. He along with Pietrangelo could be getting some reinforcement as Shea Theodore has just been cleared after missing a ton of games with an injury. That being said, the Rangers are going to need a strong offensive showing if they want to come out of this one with the much needed pair of points. Expect Igor Shesterkin to go up against Logan Thompson, who has had a strong year with a save percentage around .912, surprising many after stepping up in the absence of Robin Lehner.
Chris Feldman
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