Game one of a weekend back to back kicks off in our nation's capital as the New York Rangers pay a visit to the Washington Capitals. It's been less than 48 hours since the Rangers last game in Detroit when they dropped the "roster management" bombshell, yet with an optional practice yesterday and no official roster moves taking place, the anticipation lingers on. It's an earlier than normal puck drop as the Rangers are set to face-off with Washington at 1 p.m as they will without question be hungry for those two points to get back on track.
The Rangers aren't the only team cooking up moves as the Capitals are coming off a bit of a blockbuster trade themselves. It came as a bit of a surprise as nobody was really expecting them to be sellers but as they fall further and further in the standings, it makes good sense. The race for those two wild card spots in the East is becoming increasingly intense as the season goes on but one of the biggest surprises relative to that is how the Caps and Penguins aren't really the favorites in that race. The Penguins are dealing with their own roster decisions but as of Thursday Night, the Capitals have traded Dmitri Orlov and Garnett Hathaway to the Boston Bruins in exchange for several draft picks, including a first as well as forward Craig Smith.
I have to say, as much as I dislike the Bruins, I like this trade for Washington a lot. Not only do they get a ton of picks back but they get a guy in Craig Smith who can still help them compete while beginning the retooling process. There's no question changes had to come as the Caps are now four places out of a playoff spot as a result of the recent successes of Detroit, Florida and Buffalo. The Capitals are 3-7 in their last ten and are currently on a six game losing streak. Their last win interestingly enough came two weeks ago today in Boston. They've been on quite a homestead since but haven't won at all throughout that stretch. Part of that I'm sure has to do with their absence of Alex Ovechkin, who took an extended leave following the unfortunate passing of his father.
Ovie is now back with the team and perhaps there's a bit of a chip on the team's collective shoulder, as they just saw a guy who has spent his entire career here get shipped off to Boston. For that reason alone the Rangers need to treat this game as if it was a playoff game to ensure they don't come out of it with an extended losing streak themselves. There's plenty of history between these two teams which should be all the more reason for the Rangers to get fired up for this one, playing hard to find a win. It'll be interesting to see who gets the start in net for the Rangers tonight as it makes good sense for Igor to get either one of these games. The Kings are likely the better team but Halak did play about 38 hours ago.
My best guess would be that Igor gets the nod tonight and Halak gets back in there tomorrow. As for the rest of the lineup, it's hard to really know what the team is going to do. There isn't a ton of time leading up to puck drop for Jake Leschyshyn to get waived and almost definitely no time for them to call anyone up in his place. Given all the salary cap gymnastics relative to whatever Chris Drury is cooking up, recalling anyone from Hartford doesn't make much sense at the moment anyway. So regardless, we very well might see some more fourth line Ben Harpur action tonight, assuming nothing changes in the next six hours:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vesey
Panarin - Trocheck - Tarasenko
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
- Goodrow - Motte
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Mikkola - Schneider
Harpur
Washington really doesn't have much going for them at the moment. Aside from being top ten in the league on the penalty kill, their goals for and against numbers aren't the greatest. Even their power play, which is notoriously effective has called to 19th in the league. The Rangers match up significantly well against them, it's just going to come down to who wants this one more. Given everything recently going on with the Caps and their players, they need to prepare for this being a game Washington wants to win more than any other game this season. The last time these two team's saw each other was just two days after Christmas. I game I was indeed in attendance for so naturally, the Caps walked away with the win. The team's will play each other twice more later this season so at the moment, that 4-0 loss at the Garden is all we have to go off of.
There's no question all the roster and trade deadline stuff is becoming a bit of a distraction for the Rangers and it's hard to blame them. It's going to be a tough week while all that stuff plays out but in the meantime, especially this afternoon, they need to channel all that out and focus on these two points. They are now 0-2-1 in their last three and can't afford to fall into a slump now as the East continues to heat up towards the beginning of that final regular season push. Look to the Rangers top players to make some noise in this one as they will be relied on to get things going in this one. Expect a big bounce back game from Shesterkin assuming he does indeed return to the net tonight as well.
Chris Feldman
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