New York Rangers Stock Market: Risers and fallers from 12/17-12/23

Up: The Fourth Line

The fourth line came up huge in the Anaheim game. Paul Carey had the first multi-goal game of his career and played the best game he has played all season. Scoring two goals off of beautiful feeds from David Desharnais, the fourth line has really started to click.

As bad as the Rangers were against the Devils, the fourth line still contributed. Jimmy Vesey scored his 7th goal of the year assisted by Carey and Desharnais. They were also not on for any goals against. While it may seem obvious that this is a good thing, the main thing you want from your fourth line is good defensive play. Any points scored by the unit is a bonus.

Against the Leafs, the fourth line was split up. This due to the loss of Jesper Fast to injury. The current fourth line consists of Carey-Nieves-Miller. While I am happy J.T. Miller is back on the wing, I do not like him on the fourth line.

I’ve been fairly apprehensive about the team putting Jimmy Vesey on the fourth line, but he seems to be hitting his stride. If the fourth line continues to be as much of a powerhouse as they were this past week, the Rangers should have no problems rolling four scoring lines into the playoffs.