It’s always special when the New York Rangers play the New Jersey Devils. It brings back memories of the great rivalry of the mid-1990s and the 1994 Conference Finals. Both the Rangers and Devils have fallen on hard times recently, but both teams always raise their competitive level when they play each other.
There are always storylines worth following and this year there are two surrounding Jack Hughes. There is the revival of the Hughes-Kakko rivalry as the two top picks of the 2019 track each other on. Add Alexis Lafrenière into the mix and the top pick of 2020 takes on his counterpart from the previous year.
These are the two youngest teams in the league and it will pit Coach David Quinn against his former consigliere in Lindy Ruff who is now behind the bench in New Jersey.
The pre-game press conference with David Quinn focused on the play of Brendan Smith who replaced Tony DeAngelo in the lineup very successfully in Saturday’s game. It’s clear that Quinn likes Smith’s versatility and experience. “He’s true to himself…every time he’s out there he plays with passion…he’s got an edge to him. Regardless of the situation he gives it his all.”
Quinn was careful to say that K’Andre Miller’s improved play wasn’t necessarily due to his paring with Smith. “K’Andre’s play was what it was not because of his partner, it was because it was his second NHL game…there was a level of comfort he didn’t have the first game, no nerves, we got off to a better start.”
Quinn also didn’t talk about how he would get DeAngelo back into the lineup if Smith continues to play well, saying that lineups change for a variety of reasons and he won’t worry about it.
He also said that pairing Kaapo Kakko with Filip Chytil was beneficial to the Finn. Quinn said that Kakko might have felt more pressure playing with Panarin. “There’ s not the pressure that he might feel in getting Bread the puck all the time…you feel obligated to keep feeding Panarin, maybe there’s some relief playing with a guy who’s around his age.”
It worked in the last game, though he didn’t address any additional pressure that Lafrenière could feel playing on the second line.
Projected starting lineups
New York Rangers
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 13 Lafrenière
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
33 Di Giuseppe – 72 Chytil – 24 Kakko
16 Lemieux – 14 Howden – 12 Gauthier
55 Lindgren – 8 Trouba
27 Johnson- 23 Fox
79 Miller – 42 Smith
40 Georgiev
31 Shesterkin
New Jersey Devils
38 Yegor Sharangovich – 86 Jack Hughes – 21 Kyle Palmieri
11 Andreas Johnsson -37 Pavel Zacha – 97 Nikita Gusev
44 Miles Wood – 19 Travis Zajac – 90 Jesper Boqvist
59 Janne Kuokkanen – 20 Michael McLeod – 14 Nathan Bastian
22 Ryan Murray – 76 P.K. Subban
70 Dmitry Kulikov – 28 Damon Severson
24 Ty Smith – 7 Matt Tennyson
29 MacKenzie Blackwood
41 Scott Wedgewood
East Division
Standings
- Washington 3 2-0-1 5 pts
- Philadelphia 3 2-1-0 4 pts
- Islanders 3 2-1-0 4 pts
- New Jersey 2 1-0-1 3 pts
- Boston 3 1-1-1 3 pts
- Rangers 2 1-1-0 2 pts
- Buffalo 3 1-2-0 2 pts
Pittsburgh 3 1-2-0 2 pts
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