New York Rangers vs Nashville Predators: Join the live conversation!
It’s home sweet home for the New York Rangers as they return to Madison Square Garden after a successful west coast road trip. Join the live conversation as they take on the disappointing Nashville Predators.
The Nashville Predators were expected to be one of the contenders for the Central Division crown, but have fallen on hard times. They are currently in sixth place with 33 points. They are seven points out of the wild card, but they have also played the fewest number of games of any team in the NHL, so they have as many as four games in hand on their competition.
The race for a Western Conference playoffs spot got much more interesting with the trade of Taylor Hall from the Devils to Arizona. The Coyotes are in first place in the Pacific Division and have become that much stronger with Hall in their lineup. Arizona paid a hefty price for Hall, but all in prospects and draft picks so they only strengthened their current team.
The Predators are banged up and will be missing forwards Mattias Ekholm and Mikael Granlund. Winger Viktor Arvidsson has been injured as well and skated today, but will not play.
Alexandar Georgiev will be in goal for the Rangers tonight. This will be his 59th NHL game. One more and he will have to clear waivers in order to be sent to the AHL. The lineup will be the same as it was for the Anaheim game.
The Rangers have been in a win-one, lose-one stretch for ten games. They haven’t won two in a row since before Thanksgiving and need to go on a run if they really expect to contend for a playoff spot. This could be a good week for that. After a struggling Nashville team, they face Toronto on Friday and Anaheim Sunday, all at the Garden. The Rangers have a better record than both the Maple Leafs and the Ducks and will be looking to get some wins before a very tough stretch of games to finish out the year. After this week, nine of their next 13 games are against teams currently in a playoff position.
One storyline to watch is Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchene. They were the two marquee free agents last summer and so far, it has been Panarin with the better season. Duchene has eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points in 30 games. Compare that to Panarin with 19 goals and 23 assists for 42 points.
Projected Starting Lineups
New York Rangers
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 24 Kakko
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
14 McKegg – 72 Chytil – 17 Fast
48 Lemieux – 21 Howden – 42 Smith
76 Skjei – 8 Trouba
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
18 Staal – 77 DeAngelo
40 Georgiev
30 Lundqvist
Nashville Predators
9 Filip Forsberg – 92 Ryan Johansen – 19 Calle Jarnkrok
8 Kyle Turris – 95 Matt Duchene – 10 Colton Sissons
23 Rocco Grimaldi – 13 Nick Bonino – 15 Craig Smith
32 Yakov Trenin – 42 Colin Blackwell – 51 Austin Watson
59 Roman Josi – 4 Ryan Ellis
5 Dan Hamhuis – 57 Dante Fabbro
52 Matt Irwin – 7 Yannick Weber
74 Juuse Saros
35 Pekka Rinne
Join the live conversation!
It’s nice to have a game start at a normal time after the craziness of west coast starting times. There shoudl be a lot to talk about as they try to avoid a home letdown.
The live thread is open….now.
Gametime is 7pm and the telecast is on the MSG Network with the radio call is on ESPN Radio 98.7 FM.