New York Rangers: Trouble looming in Calgary
The New York Rangers pay their only visit to Calgary this season. Winning will be a tall order with the Flames established as on the of the elite teams in the NHL.
One of the results of divisional play is limited exposure to teams from the Western Conference. The last time the New York Rangers played Calgary was back on October 21. Does anyone remember the 4-1 loss at Madison Square Garden?
The Flames are one of the best teams in the NHL. They are third overall in the league with 93 points in 70 games. They are in a life and death struggle for first place in the Pacific Division, one point behind the San Jose Sharks. The winner gets to play the Arizona Coyotes (or Minnesota) in the first round of the playoffs. The loser draws the Vegas Golden Knights. Want to guess who they would rather play?
The Flames made some major changes prior to the season. General Manager Brad Treliving fired coach Glen Gulutzan and hired Alberta native and Carolina coach for four years, Bill Peters.
Peters took over a team that missed the playoffs, finishing with 84 points. He immediately imported some of his former Hurricanes, swapping Dougie Hamilton and Michael Ferland for Noah Hanafin and Elias Lindholm. They signed free agent forward James Neal and another former Hurricane, Derek Ryan.
Most of these moves have worked. Lindholm has blossomed into a star with 27 goals and 76 points. Ryan has been a solid addition up front. Hanafin has solidified the blue line. The only move that hasn’t panned out well is the Neal acquisition as he has only five goals this season.
The biggest reason for the Flames success has been Mark Giordano. Team captain and leader on defense, Giordano is having his best campaign after 13 years in Calgary and is in the running for the Norris Trophy.
Add in talent like Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk and the Flames have become a formidable team. The only question facing the team is who is the number one goalie. The team is torn between 36-year old veteran Mike Smith and 26-year old former back up, David Rittich.
The same Rangers team that lost the first two games of this road trip will take on the Flames tonight in Calgary. Will they raise their level of play and provide a challenge as they have against other top teams, or will they be dominated? It’s an interesting test for a young Rangers team.
Information you should know
- About the Rangers
- The word is that Henrik Lundqvist will get the start in Calgary with Georgiev starting in Minnesota.
- No word on rescinding the match penalty to Brendan Lemieux. Chris Kreider drew a $5,000 fine from the league for his elbow to the head of Elias Pettersson.
- The Rangers have lost eight out of their last nine games, though they have gotten points in five of the eight losses by getting to overtime.
- Although the Rangers scored on the power play versus Vancouver, it was their first PP goal in eight games and came right after an absolutely impotent two man advantage.
- The Rangers have allowed one power play goal in each of the last three games, after not allowing a power play goal in four games.
- If the Rangers lose to the Flames, they will have a losing record against Pacific Division teams. The last time that happened was in 2013-14.
- If the Rangers lose to the Flames and Vancouver can beat the Devils, the Rangers will drop to sixth worst in the NHL. It’s a big game for the lottery standings.
- It’s Brendan Lemieux’s birthday. He is 23-years old.
- The Rangers announced that they had signed undrafted free agent Jake Elmer. He’s a 20-year old righty shooter who had a great season in Lethbridge in the WHL. He scored 38 goals and had 78 points in 66 games. He played wing with Dylan Cozens, one of the projected top 2019 draft picks.
- About the Flames
- The Flames are on a two game winning streak. Prior to that they had lost four in a row to Minnesota, Vegas, Arizona and Toronto.
- In their last game they absolutely drubbed the Devils, 9-4. They went into the third period trailing 4-3, but scored six unanswered goals.
- The Flames went four games (all losses) scoring five goals. In the their last two games they have scored 15 goals.
- The Flames are healthy. The only player out with an injury is James Neal who has missed 14 games with an upper body injury.
- David Rittich is expected to start the game in goal for Calgary.
- Johnny Gaudreau has four goals and eight points in nine career games against the Rangers. With 90 points he has 12 games left to hit the 100 point mark for the first time.
- The Flames made no moves at the trade deadline.
- The Flames have three players with 30 goals or more (Gaudreau, Monahan and Tkachuk) and three players who are averaging more than a point per game (Gaudreau, Monahan and Lindholm).
- Head to head
- The Flames beat the Rangers 4-1 in October. The Rangers poured 45 shots on the Flames net, but could only score once. Johnny Gaudreau and Garnet Hathaway each had two goals for the Flames.
- In that game, David Rittich made 44 saves, the most of his career, allowing only one goal to Mika Zibanejad.
Next. The lottery standings and random thoughts. dark
- Game Info
- Gametime is 9pm EST. The game will be televised on the MSG 2 network. Radio will be ESPN 1050AM.
- The team flies out immediately after the game for the final game of the road trip in Minnesota on Saturday night.