After a week on the road, the Rangers are back at it at the World's Most Famous Arena for Garden of Dreams Night, where they will host the Vegas Golden Knights. In what is always a special night for the New York Rangers Community, the Rangers will want to channel some of that feel good energy into their performance as they are up against a threatening Golden Knights team. Per the Rangers "hockey Yoda" in Steve Valiquette, the Golden Knights are the best team in the NHL right now at creating High Danger Chances, which stands to reason as they are in the top five for goals for in games played, just three spots behind the Avalanche.
While this will be a big test for the Rangers and a heartwarming night for the community, it will also be a bit of a reunion for Rangers Head Coach Gerard Gallant as well as Ryan Reaves, playing against their former team for the first time this year. Reaves, who was acquired by the Rangers via trade, has spent his last couple seasons with Vegas as a key part of their fresh identity. He was an integral part of Vegas' playoff runs and made the city a home of his, establishing a brewery that he still runs despite now being in New York. While there's no doubt Reaves will know what side he's on, you know the reunion will be the storyline and have to think he's looking forward to getting out there tonight.
Another guy who is likely looking forward to or at least hoping to getting back out there tonight is Filip Chytil, who was a healthy scratch in Wednesday Night's game in Arizona. Gerard Gallant labeled it a coach's decision, indicating that he clearly wants more from Chytil, who only has three goals and four assists on the season, a goal and two assists in his last five. It seemed as if things were turning around in his two point game against Colorado that he followed up with an assist against Buffalo. However, after two games without a point in all around lackluster performances, Gallant felt the need to send a message.
Chytil's reaching a real make or break part of his career, at least with the Rangers. I still ponder if we rushed his development a little too much however, also respect his work ethic in the sense that he always forced the team to call him back up through his play when he would get sent to Hartford, He does the right things, always taking opportunities to improve his game but he has yet to take that next step. Perhaps being scratched yesterday will light a fire and he'll come out strong assuming he returns to play tonight and if Panarin doesn't play tonight, they will definitely need guys like him to step up.
Artemi Panarin didn't return to play after leaving the game Wednesday Night in Arizona and has since been labeled as day-to-day with a minor injury. Not much additional information has been given but there's a chance he may not play tonight which would guarantee Chytil returning to the line up. A situation that would otherwise lead to Greg McKegg returning to the press box. So for the sake of everyone's favorite past time, hypothetical line making, let's see what we could be looking at without Panarin:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko
Goodrow - Strome - Hunt?
Lafreniere - Chytil - Gauthier
Rooney - McKegg - Reaves
Frankly, if Panarin doesn't go tonight the Rangers need to take it as an opportunity to get creative. The likely scenario should be Gauthier and Lafreniere moving up to either side of Strome and putting Hunt and Goodrow on the third line with Chytil. Not only does this give Gauthier and Lafreniere a chance they need, but provides the third line with flexibility in the sense that they can swap Goodrow and Chytil between center and wing, even though Chytil and the organization seem to be firm believers that he is a center.
One last thing as I'm trying not to turn this into a complete Filip Chytil piece, if either he or the Rangers are considering a long lasting relationship with each other, Chytil should consider being more open to playing the wing. Especially if the Rangers aren't going to make a trade until closer to March, Chytil can easily be a top six forward if he can find lock in on the right side of either the Mika line or Strome line. With the money Goodrow's making, he should be able to handle third line center responsibilities. I love the kid line as much as anyone but if they can't get going, it's worth exploring.
As for the rest of tonight, expect the Rangers to look to get back on track. While they are coming off a win, it wasn't a great one. Arizona has won five games all season and were two minutes from taking the Rangers to overtime where God knows what could've happened. The Rangers have kind of been off their mojo since the first Avalanche game though honestly, it's hard to blame them. Teams go through slumps, I talked about it before, I'd much rather the Rangers struggle the week before Christmas then start the season with an 0-5 streak. The Rangers just have to "get through" Vegas and Montreal before they break for Christmas. In a perfect world, they win them both but realistically, as long as we win one of them, I'll be more than okay with it.
At the start of this I mentioned how Stevie V brought up the frequency of Vegas finding High Danger Chances so defending against this team will be crucial. The Rangers are going to want to control the puck as much as they can and any time not spent in our own zone or on the penalty kill is time well spent. New York may want to consider double shifting Trouba or Fox at times throughout this game. Hajek has had his moments, Nemeth is somewhat of a veteran which maybe undeservedly so gives him a benefit of the doubt. Regardless, Nemeth leads the team in the minus category and Hajek is hit or miss, consider a rotation of this sorts:
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Nemeth - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Lindgren - Fox
Hajek - Trouba
Nevertheless, it's Friday Night Hockey at MSG for Garden of Dreams Night, get excited and hope for some good hockey!
Chris Feldman
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