The Rangers playoff dreams are very likely far gone unless the Bruins lose out and the Rangers win out but of course, it's not completely impossible. The Bruins have six games left including two against us so with our luck, I wouldn't be surprised if the Bruins lose their next two and we win ours just to torture us right til the end. Realistically, it's very far fetched but let's just live in my little fantasy world for a second.. The Bruins go back to back with the Devils who they have struggled with this season, they play us twice at home then go back to back with the Islanders and Capitals to end the season. That's not an easy schedule. Again, unlikely but for whatever reason I am always going to be overly hopeful and optimistic with this team.
This would mean however we also need to win out with four games left again Washington and Boston including one back to back stretch. Not an easy schedule either but I'd much rather only have to win four than six in a row. While improbable it's worth noting, despite the recent injuries and call ups the coaching staff is still going to stress the importance of competing and pushing for wins. This is all important in establishing winning culture with these young players who we are all expecting to be the faces of this franchise that will hopefully become a dynasty.
That being said the Capitals are 6-3-1, two points behind the Penguins for first place in the East. Their going to be playing their usual hard, offensive game as these games matter for playoff seeding. This will be yet another test for this young Rangers team, especially for Zac Jones and Tarmo Reunanen who will have to be relied on to defend against the likes of Ovechkin, Backstrom and Oshie. There hasn't been any updates on any injuries, line changes, or goalie decisions, it's assumed the Rangers had the day off yesterday which will hopefully act as an opportunity to hit the reset button.
If I had to guess, I wouldn't expect any of the injured guys to be ready to go tonight. There's no sense in rushing them back to action and on the crazy off chance that we win tonight and Boston loses, I'd rather have them back in game two then have them return too early. So barring any returns, expect the same line up as the last two games..
Lafreniere - Zibanejad - Buchnevich
Panarin - Strome - Kravtsov
Blackwell - Chytil - Kakko
Barron - Rooney - Gauthier
Hajek - Fox
Miller - Jones
Reunanen - Smith
Probably Sheshterkin in goal but who knows. I will say, that fourth line looked real good the other day, probably the only one's that looked good in the Rangers' second shut out loss to the Islanders. It really acted as justification for all the complaining about Gauthier not getting ice time. He had a great game back and I don't think I'll ever understand why Quinn didn't play him more this season. Morgan Barron also had a solid NHL debut and I look forward to seeing more of what he can bring to the table for this team. These remaining games are a great opportunity for him as well as the rest of these guys to prove to the coaching staff what they got.
Chris Feldman
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