Rangers vs. Sabres: Join the live conversation

For the third time in seven games, the New York Rangers will be looking to rebound from a loss in the second game of a two-game series.  The lost badly to the Islanders and came back with a big win. They lost in a shootout to the Penguins and blew a lead in their next game, losing in the last two minutes.  Now, it’s the third time, coming off a demoralizing, dispirited and depressing loss to the Sabres on Tuesday night.

Igor Shesterkin will be in net for the Blueshirts for the first time since giving up two “soft” goals to the Penguins on Sunday night.  He needs a good game to restore his confidence.  In four appearances he has a Goals Against Average of 2.98 and a .886 Save Percentage, not stellar number, but it’s early.  Some have pointed out that he hasn’t been the same since his car accident almost a year ago, but it’s hard to believe that he is still suffering from  the consequences of the crash.

Some fans may consider this the best news, but Jack Johnson is out with a groin injury.

That eliminates the question of which player will be partnering with Tony DeAngelo, it will be Brendan Smith.  Yes, the Brendan Smith who leads all Rangers defenseman with a Corsi For percentage of 57.6%.  If you were curious, Jack Johnson is the worst blueliner on the team wth a 47.2% possession number.

Vince Mercogliano tweeted out the lines for tonight’s game.

Blackwell finished the game Tuesday on the right side of Strome and Panarin so this is not a surprise. The big move is Kreider down to to the third line, swapping spots with Alexis Lafrenière.

In a minor move, the Rangers called Anthony Greco up from Hartford to join the taxi squad.  He would be the only forward on the squad which needed a call  up after Filip Chytil’s injury.

Projected starting lineups

New York Rangers (this will change)

10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 43 Blackwell
13 Lafrenière– 93 Zibanejad –89 Buchnevich
20 Kreider–  14 Howden – 24 Kakko
48  Lemieux – 17 Rooney–  33  Di Giuseppe

55 Lindgren  – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
42 Smith-77 DeAngelo

40 Georgiev
31 Shesterkin

Buffalo Sabres

4 Taylor Hall – 9 Jack Eichel – 23 Sam Reinhart
68 Victor Olofsson – 12 Eric Staal – 24 Dylan Cozens
13 Tobias Rieder – 20 Cody Eakin – 21 Kyle Okposo
53 Jeff Skinner – 27 Curtis Lazar – 15 Riley Sheahan

19 Jake McCabe – 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
44 Matt Irwin – 62 Brandon Montour
26 Rasmus Dahlin – 33 Colin Miller

35 Linus Ullmark
40 Carter Hutton

The Vince Dunn chatter

There has been some chatter in our comments section about St. Louis Blues defenseman Vince Dunn who was a healthy scratch in their last game against Vegas and has fallen out of favor with Blues coach Craig Berube.   Dunn is 24 years old an and RFA after this season, making a team-friendly $1.875 million.

While he has a Stanley Cup ring and has played in over 200 NHL games, he has admitted to taking preparation for each  season not as seriously as he should have and there was some resentment over his most recent contract negotiations. With the Rangers in need of a stay-at-home defenseman to partner with Tony DeAngelo and the Blues probably looking for a first round pick as a minimum return, Dunn may not be the answer.  With a team with a fragile psyche, Dunn may not be the right person to throw into the mix.

That’s not to mention that the addition of a player like Dunn would create a roadblock for prospects like Matthew Robertson and Zac Jones.  You would have to believe that the Rangers would try some in house solutions like Libor Hajek and Tarmo Reunanen before going the trade route.

Join the live conversation

Gametime is 7pm and it will be televised on the MSG Network. No hopscotching between channels due to a Knicks game tonight.  Radio will be ESPN 98.7 FM.

Join the live thread during the game here at Blue Line Station and share your thoughts about the game. .  The thread is open now.