New York Rangers Try To Right Ship Against Red-Hot Panthers
Rangers try to keep positive momentum as they face scorching Panthers
Three days isn’t that long of a time, but for the New York Rangers, it has to feel like eons ago. That’s the last time they took the ice; Wednesday night in a victory over the divisional rival Tampa Bay Lightning. It was a somewhat rare win these days as the Rangers have struggled to put together a complete game.
Despite their struggles, they remain just one point back of the New York Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Washington Capitals already seem to have the division on lock down, holding an 11-point edge over the Islanders and a 12-point edge over the Rangers.
Their opponents for tonight, the Florida Panthers, are at the opposite end of the spectrum as one of the hottest teams in the league right now.
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Eyes On Isles
Since the last time these two met — back on November 21st, a 5-4 Rangers overtime win thanks to Rick Nash — the Panthers have gone 13-4-0 and now find themselves jousting for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
Statistically, the Panthers are led by the man who keeps winking at Father Time in Jaromir Jagr. His 26 points are tops on the team, though the young talent is certainly starting to catch up. Aleksander Barkov has 23 points and is looking more and more like the complete two-way center everyone envisioned him to be. Just ahead of him is the ultra-talented Jonathan Huberdeau with 25 points.
Behind them in net will be 36-year-old Roberto Luongo. Since getting dealt back to South Beach from Vancouver, Luongo has looked like his old self once again. He is sixth in the NHL in wins with 16 (16-11-3 record) and sports a very nice .926 save percentage and 2.11 goals against average.
Injuries
Dan Girardi is still dealing with a cracked right knee cap, which might explain his less than stellar play so far this season. He skated today, but it is uncertain if he’ll be in the lineup as of this writing.
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The Panthers, meanwhile, are without Dave Bolland (lower body) and arguably their best center in Nick Bjugstad (upper body). Though it is worth noting that the Panthers have gone 11-3-0 without Bjugstad, because he was clearly the cause of all their troubles.
Keys
Mano-e-Mano: Luongo has been a big reason the Panthers have done so well while Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist has been a big reason the Rangers have not. The King needs to re-establish his dominance if the Rangers hope to get back to winning on a consistent basis.
Get the lead (and keep it): Part of the problems the Rangers have had over the last month or so is that despite grabbing the lead first, they rarely hold onto it. It goes without saying that teams can find themselves in a bit of a shell-shocked state if they keep giving up leads, so grabbing one and holding onto it would go a long way towards shoring up any confidence issues.
Keep ’em hot: Derick Brassard has been hot lately, with 13 points in his past 14 games, and is one of six NHL players with at least 10 goals, 20 takeaways and a 50.0 faceoff win percentage (minimum 600 faceoffs taken) this season. Keeping your best and hottest players on the ice as much as possible is what winning teams do, so feed the beast.
Next: Antti Raanta should be starting
Prediction: With Girardi out yet again, the Rangers unable to establish any lasting momentum and the Panthers hot as can be, it doesn’t look like the Rangers are going to go streaking. Given their struggles on the road, it especially seems unlikely that there is a Rangers victory tonight.
4-2 Panthers