Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings play one another for the first of three times this season, and the Rangers only visit to the Joe this year.
Both teams are looking for Answers as they are both struggling to find offensive output from their stars, and have both started in a little bit of the rut as we are in the beginning stages of a long hard fought season.
For the Red Wings, they played last Wednesday night, a 6-1 loss to Ottawa, as the team looked flat, and really couldn’t get their offensive game going. Since Jimmy Howard returned to the lineup after injury, the Red Wings are 0-2-1, and have been having issues putting the puck in the back of the net. An offensively gifted team, struggling to find ways to score. Something that the Rangers are all to familiar with.
For the Rangers, we see a 2-1 loss to the Flyers Thursday night, in a series of losses, in which the Rangers are without their top goal scorer in Rick Nash, without their captain Ryan Callahan, still without speedy forward Carl Hagelin, and now the status of their Vezina winning goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist remaining up in the air, they are looking for answers and answers fast. Returning to the Rangers after a short stint in Hartford is speedy forward, and top prospect, Chris Kreider who hopes to prove that he has a right to stay in the NHL. If any indication came from Thursday night, he deserves to as he recorded an assist on the teams only goal, credited to Brad Richards.
Starting again due to the Lundqvist injury is Cam Talbot who looked impressive for the Rangers in their game against Philadelphia, keeping them in the game, and making key saves when it mattered the most. We hope to see that continue, and the Rangers hope to start finding the back of the net, and their winning ways.
Three Players to Watch
1. Cam Talbot – New York Rangers
Talbot looks to continue his strong play in the NHL, and has to face Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterberg in his second game. The gifted players from the Detroit Red Wings, could cause some issues for the young goaltender, but we’ll see how he responds after his strong game against Philadelphia. Hopefully nothing changes for him, and his strong play will continue, as he helps the Rangers stay in this game.
2. Pavel Datsyuk – Detroit Red Wings
Through 11 games, Pavel Datsyuk has 5 goals, and added 6 assists, making him a point per game player, but with the teams recent struggles, his line with him and Zetterberg has broken up in hopes to balance the offsensive output a bit more. Look for Datsyuk and Daniel Alfredsson to continue a high flying attacking, as the two players are strong offensive threats for the Red Wings, as they hope to add a few goals in the process.
3. Michael Del Zotto – New York Rangers
Ranger fans favorite punching bag, Michael Del Zotto has been under the microscope by Ranger fans, as his struggles this season have been really not too surprising, just more at a premium compared to the previous years. If anyone remembers his sophomore season in the NHL, I think many can say that this year so far has come close. After sitting out the game against New Jersey, he returned to the lineup against Philadelphia and looked loss. The Rangers defensemen, talks about regaining confidence, and consistency, but after Thursdays showing neither are in the young defensemans radar.
New York Rangers (2-6-0; 4 Points) versus Detroit Red Wings (6-4-1; 13 Points)
7:00PM EST – Joe Louis Arena – Detroit, MI
TV: NHLN – Fox Sports Detroit – MSG
Last 10: NYR (2-6-0) – Detroit (5-4-1)
Rangers Line Combinations
Chris Kreider (20) – Derek Stepan (21) – Brad Richards (19)
Benoit Pouliot (67) – Derrick Brassard (16) – J.T. Miller (10)
Taylor Pyatt (14) – Brian Boyle (22) – Derek Dorsett (15)
Mats Zuccarello (36) – Dominic Moore (28) – Jesper Fast (12)
Ryan McDonagh (27) – Daniel Girardi (5)
Anton Stralman (6) – Marc Staal (18)
Michael Del Zotto (4) – John Moore (17)
Cameron Talbot (33)
Jason Missiaen (31)
Detroit Probable Line Combinations
Todd Bertuzzi (44) – Pavel Datsyuk (13) – Daniel Alfredsson (11)
Johan Franzen (93) – Henrik Zetterberg (40) – Tomas Tartar (21)
Daniel Cleary (71) – Stephen Weiss (90) – Justin Abdelkader (8)
Drew Miller (20) – Jokim Andersson (18) – Jordin Tootoo (22)
Niklas Kronwall (55) – Brendan Smith (2)
Kyle Quincey (27) – Danny DeKeyser (65)
Brian Lashoff (23) – Jakob Kindl (4)
Jimmy Howard (35)
Jonas Gustavsson (50)