New York Rangers: A tough match up with the Dallas Stars

After a triumphant return from an extended break the New York Rangers take on the tough Dallas Stars as they start a four game home stand.

Winning two games against the cellar dwelling Detroit Red Wings was an accomplishment, but Monday the New York Rangers will have a real test as they face the Dallas Stars, one of the top teams in the Western Conference.

It’s the first time this season that the Rangers will play the Dallas Stars.  They catch them at a good time as the Stars have not won in regulation in seven games.  They did win three of those games, but needed overtime to do it.

Dallas is doing it this season with a shutdown defense.  They allow only 2.49 goals per game, the second best in the league after Boston.  They are scoring 2.59 goals per game, fifth from the bottom of the NHL.   The new Dallas Stars feature an adequate offense and a stingy defense.  It’s a far cry from the 2015-16 Stars team that featured the most potent offense in the NHL.

The two key storylines for the Rangers will be the status of Chris Kreider and who will be in goal for the Rangers.  Kreider left Saturday’s game versus Detroit after taking a knee to the head.  All reports are that it is not a concussion and he will be day-to-day, but the team called up Phil Di Giuseppe as insurance at forward.

Coming off a 33 save, 1-0 shutout, the likelihood is that Henrik Lundqvist will get his second straight start in goal, after getting only two starts in a month in January.  The future Hall of Fame goalie is clearly frustrated by the three goalie system and showed what he was made of with a determined and outstanding performance against Detroit.

As for Dallas, they are in a playoff dogfight in the Western Conference.  They are in third place in the Central Division with 62 points,  but with only  a six point cushion over the first non-playoff team and only two points ahead of the top wild card team.

This game will be a good test for the Blueshirts and will be an indication if they are playoff contenders or pretenders.

About the Rangers

The Rangers will be going for their second three-game winning streak of the season.  They’ve had three two-game winning streaks in the last six weeks and weren’t able to extend  them. They have won six of their last eight at  home scoring  31 goals in those six victories an average of over five goals per game.

The combination of Artemi Panarin and Mika ZIbanejad continues to drive the Rangers’ offense.  In fact, there have been eight games this season when both players were held scoreless in the same game and the Rangers have lost them all.

Coach David Quinn kept his new defensive pairings intact throughout the entire 1-0 win over Detroit.  The Jacob Trouba-Ryan Lindgren combination worked as a shutdown combination and in their second game, the Adam Fox-Brady Skjei team  held their own.

Meanwhile, the vaunted kid line is not producing.  Here are their stats.  Filip Chytil has scored one goal in his last ten games.  Kaapo Kakko has one goal and one assist in his last 18 games.   Brett Howden has one goal in his last 12 games.

If you think that is bad, the fourth line is worse.  Greg McKegg has one goal on the season and he scored it on November 6.  Brendan Smith is scoreless in 21 games.  That’s no goals or assists.  Brendan Lemieux has not scored a goal in 12 games and Micheal Haley has only one goal  this season, scored in late October.

It’s  no wonder that David Quinn is leaning heavily on his top two lines.  The power play is also helping, scoring ten goals in their last 29 tries.

About the Stars

The fact that Dallas is in a playoff spot is remarkable considering their slow start and turbulent season. They were 1-7-1 after nine games and mired in last place in the Central Division.  They turned it around, losing only one game in regulation in their next 16.

The next hurdle was when the team abruptly fired head coach Jim Montgomery for unspecified “unprofessional conduct” on December 10.  They have gone 12-7-1 under interim coach Rick Bowness.  In early January ,Montgomery released a  statement saying he was entering rehab.

When you talk about the Dallas Stars you don’t usually refer to their limited offense.  They feature top scorers like Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry.   All of them have scored 40 goals or more in the NHL and are struggling to get to 20 goals.

In their last nine games the Stars haven’t scored more than three goals in any one game. The last time they score more than four goals in a game was one November 21.   In the same time period, the Rangers have score more than four goals in a game nine times.

The Stars have transformed themselves into a top defensive team, led by the trio of Esa Lindell, John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen.  Complimented by reliable blueliners Roman Polak, Stephen Johns and Jamie Oleksiak, the Dallas defense can shut down any team and it’s no small wonder that they got to within an overtime goal of going to the Conference Finals.

Alexander Radulov and Roope Hintz lead the team in goals with 15 and Tyler Seguin leads in points with 37.  That’s the fewest in each category of any team in playoff contention.  To make things more challenging for the Stars, Hintz missed the last two games with an upper body injury and his status for tonight is unclear.

The Stars goaltending duo of Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin has kept Dallas in most games.  They have a combined goals against average of 2.36 and a save percentage of .926.   Bishop was in goal for for the Dallas 3-2 overtime win over the Devils Saturday night, making 29 saves.

Rookie Joel Kiviranta scored his first NHL goal in that game with Pavelski scoring the overtime winner.  Tonight is the second of three games against metropolitan area teams with their finale tomorrow night versus the Islanders.