New York Rangers vs Detroit Red Wings redux: Join the live conversation

Can the New York Rangers win two in a row against the worst team in the NHL?  Will Pavel Buchnevich be trade bait?  Can Chris Kreider score again? Do you like the Panarin leg kick?  Is Henrik still the King?

As the New York Rangers take on the Detroit Red Wings in the second game of a back-to-back series on consecutive nights, the Blueshirts look to launch their month of February with a second straight win. There will be more to talk about than just the game so join in.

Roster moves

It doesn’t appear that there will any changes in the active roster for the game tonight.  David Quinn will go back to his experiment at using Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba together along with Adam Fox and Brady Skjei.  The first tandem worked out fine, the second not as well.  Both Fox and Skjei were on the ice for two Detroit third period goals and that forced a quick reshuffling by Quinn.

Quinn said “I kinda liked their game, but when one pair’s out there for two (goals against) you maybe send a message and go back to the original pairings.  I don’t want to quite on that.  I liked some of the things I saw on on all three pairings last night.”

Quinn also said that he is moving Howden back up to the third line, swapping him with Lemieux.

As for the Red Wings, they made one roster move, activating goalie Jonathan Bernier from injured reserve and sending backup Calvin Pickard  to the AHL.  There is no word about who will be in net for Detroit.  Jimmy Howard played well for them last night, keeping them in the game until midway through the second period.  It looks like Bernier will get the start.

The big storyline tonight is Henrik Lundqvist and how he performs after starting one game in the last  month.  All eyes will be on the veteran goaltender as he continues his adjustment to the three goalie system.

Artemi Panarin showed no signs of the injury that sidelined him for one game as well as the All-Star weekend.  He is four in the league, averaging 1.46 points per game behind only Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon.  He leads all forwards in plus/minus with a +23 rating and his 53 even strength points is also tops in the league.

It’s worth looking at his goal from last night. Watch the moves as he goes for the net.  Unbelievable.

With his two points last night, he now has 20 points in his career in 14 games against the Red Wings.  That’s the second most against any team, behind the 21 points he has scored against the Islanders.  He has scored nine goals against Detroit, his second best total.  Guess which team he has scored the most goals against?  The New York Rangers with 12.

ICYMI

In case you missed it, they gave away a car at the Garden last night.

Projected Lineups

New York Rangers
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 17 Fast
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
48 Lemieux – 72 Chytil – 24 Kakko
21 Howden – 14 McKegg – 42 Smith

55 Lindgren – 8 Trouba
76 Skjei – 23 Fox
18 Staal – 77 DeAngelo

30 Lundqvist
31 Shesterkin

Detroit Red Wings
59 Tyler Bertuzzi – 71 Dylan Larkin – 11 Filip Zadina
73 Adam Erne – 51 Valtteri Filppula – 14 Robby Fabbri
43 Darren Helm – 81 Frans Nielsen – 41 Luke Glendening
48 Givani Smith – 70 Christoffer Ehn  – 8 Justin Abdelkader

22 Patrik Nemeth – 17 Filip Hronek
83 Trevor Daley – 21 Dennis Cholowski
52 Jonathan Ericsson – 3 Alex Biega

45 Jonathan Bernier
35 Jimmy Howard

Join the live conversation!

It’s been along time since we have had a chance to share our thoughts about the Broadway Blueshirts.  Join the live conversation and weigh in on the game, the trade deadline, the three goalie system or anything else you may want to talk about.

The live thread is up now!

The game is scheduled to start at 7pm.  The telecast will be on the MSG2 Network.  ESPN Radio 101.5AM will carry the radio call.