Artemi Panarin has missed only one game in his brief New York Rangers career. The Rangers lost that game so they will be trying to win for the first time without him in the lineup. The Ranger announced that Panarin is out day-to-day with a lower body injury.
In practice, the Rangers had Alexis Lafreniere on the second line with Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko. Coach David Quinn was asked about moving him up. “We all really feel Laffy continues to improve. We want to put him in the position to have the success he’s capable of having… I thought he had a really good game the other night. His third period might have been his best period of the year. He’s earning everything he’s getting.”
It should be noted that he had couple shifts with Strome and Kakko, but was replaced by Phil Di Giuseppe for most of the third period once Panarin was out. . Lafreniere played 5:12 in the third period, less than Kreider (7:24) and Di Giuseppe (6:28).
Quinn did not reveal how the power play alignment will change without Panarin. The power play has been shut out the last three games and has scored only two goals in eight games.
Igor Shesterkin will be in net for the Rangers. It will be the rookie’s first start against the Bruins. Jaroslav Halak will be in goal for the Bruins, his first start in almost two weeks. Considering how well Tukka Rask played on Wednesday, you may think that is good news, but Halak is simply lights out against the Blueshirts. He has a record o 22-8-1 in 32 career appearances against New York.
Some good news for the Rangers with Colin Blackwell recovered from his injury and back in the lineup. Blackwell had been playing really well with two goals and an assist in his last three games. He had been playing on the right side of Panarin and Strome, but will be on the bottom six in his return to action.
As or the Bruins, Matt Grzelcyk is out of the lineup after one game back from an injury and will be replaced by Connor Clifton.
Projected starting lineups
New York Rangers (the third and fourth lines are a guess)
20 Kreider– 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
13 Lafrenière– 16 Strome – 24 Kakko
33 Di Giuseppe- 43 Blackwell –12 Gauthier
48 Lemieux – 14 Howden– 17 Rooney
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
25 Hajek – 22 Bittto
31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev
Boston Bruins
63 Brad Marchand – 37 Patrice Bergeron – 88 David Pastrnak
21 Nick Ritchie – 46 David Krejci – 12 Craig Smith
74 Jake DeBrusk -13 Charlie Coyle – 10 Anders Bjork
11 Trent Frederic – 52 Sean Kuraly – 14 Chris Wagner
55 Jeremy Lauzon – 73 Charlie McAvoy
75 Connor Clifton – 25 Brandon Carlo
67 Jakub Zboril – 86 Kevan Miller
40 Tuukka Rask
41 Jaroslav Halak
Game info and the join the live conversation
Game time is 7pm and it will be televised on MSG Plus. The radiocast will be on WEPN 1050AM.
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