It’s a key match up for the New York Rangers as the Washington Capitals come to New York for a one game visit. It’s the first trip by the Caps to Madison Square Garden since Mika Zibanejad‘s five goal night last March. The Blueshirts have to be hoping that the Swede has another big night. Five goals may be a bit much to ask for, but a hat trick would be nice.
Prior to the game, Quinn was asked if the win over Pittsburgh on Monday was particularly significant considering the Rangers’ early season woes. He conceded that it was, “When you start 1-4-1, anytime you get a win to stop the bleeding is important, but certainly under those unique circumstances that we faced, it was certainly more important.”
He sounded optimistic about his team and what to expect. “We’ve got five out of our last six points, we’re starting to get back to .500, Obviously we’ve got some big games coming up against good teams…we’re digging ourselves out of the hole we created.”
Igor Shesterkin will get the start in goal, his second straight. After losing his first three starts, Shesterkin has won two in a row and allowed only three goals in those two games.
Birthday boy Libor Hajek will be making his season debut with Brendan Smith out with an injury. It’s been a long time coming for Hajek and we will see if he lives up expectations. He played 10 games in the Czech Republic this season so he has had playing time.
Kaapo Kakko is back from his one day trip to the COVID list and will be back on the right side of Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin, a trio that started the season together, but didn’t last long.
Rumors
Two NHL players requested trades this past weekend and the rumors are heating up because of the Tony DeAngelo situation. From now on until he is dealt, whenever a players is unhappy, a potential DeAngelo transaction will come up.
Victor Mete of the Montreal Canadiens is unhappy about his playing time and wants out, a request denied by Montreal management, but confirmed by his agent. Mete is a 22 year old left shot defenseman who was selected in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. He was a regular for the last two seasons, but has only played in two games this season.
Montreal is not in desperate need of a right shot defender like DeAngelo as they already have Shea Weber and Jeff Petry though they are both in their thirties. They also have absolutely no cap space and Mete makes only $735k.
The other player who wants out is center Sam Bennett of Calgary. He is in the last year of a contract that pays him $2,550,000 and will be an arbitration eligible Restricted Free Agent after this season. His trade request reportedly blindsided Flames management. He has not gotten off to a good start this season and is said to be looking to make a fresh start. He has not lived up to expectations since being selected fourth overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
The most goals scored by the 24 year old in one season was 18 in 2015-16 and his numbers have dropped steadily since that sophomore season. He is decent on draws with a lifetime winning percentage of 48.1%. He could be a solid addition to the third line especially with the loss of Filip Chytil. He is being held out of tonight’s game so there could be some movement, though the word is that they are not close to a trade.
Sam Bennett likely won’t be in the Flames lineup tonight against the Winnipeg Jets. Coach decision. This may fuel trade speculation, but sources say, at the moment, there is nothing on the front burner related to trade.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 4, 2021
Calgary has two right shot defensemen on their roster and the team is off to a slow start, in sixth place in the seven team North Division. The question is whether they want to take on DeAngelo and the baggage he brings with him. The Flames have $1.6 million in cap space so it would have to be a salary retention deal if it was to happen.
Projected starting lineups
New York Rangers
20 Kreider– 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 24 Kakko
13 Lafrenière – 14 Howden– 33 Di Giuseppe
48 Lemieux – 17 Rooney– 12 Gauthier
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
25 Hajek – 22 Bittto
31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev
Washington Capitals
8 Alex Ovechkin – 19 Nicklas Backstrom – 43 Tom Wilson
13 Jakub Vrana – 77 T.J. Oshie – 14 Richard Panik
62 Carl Hagelin – 26 Nic Dowd – 21 Garnet Hathaway
28 Daniel Carr – 23 Michael Sgarbossa – 10 Daniel Sprong
33 Zdeno Chara – 74 John Carlson
3 Brenden Dillon – 57 Trevor van Riemsdyk
9 Dmitri Orlov – 3 Nick Jensen
41 Vitek Vanecek
31 Craig Anderson
Join the live conversation!
Game time is 7pm and will be carried on the MSG Network with the radiocast on ESPN 98.7 FM. Blue Line Station’s live thread is open now. Join your fellow Rangers fans and talk about the game and all things Rangers. Razzing Alexndar Ovechkin is permitted and welcome…it’s the next best thing to being at the Garden for the eight minute countdown and the “Ovi s–cks” chant.