Blue Line Station
Fansided

Rangers’ mission: Get the Sabres back on a losing track

By Steve Paulus

Mar 22, 2021; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox (23) hits Buffalo Sabres left wing Jeff Skinner (53) during the third period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Bennett/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 22, 2021; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox (23) hits Buffalo Sabres left wing Jeff Skinner (53) during the third period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Bennett/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY Sports /
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New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider (20) celebrates his second goal of the game Credit: Bruce Bennett/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY Sports
New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider (20) celebrates his second goal of the game Credit: Bruce Bennett/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY Sports /

About the Rangers

Igor Shesterkin will get the start and it looks like the lineup will remain the same as the group that won against Washington.   That means that Vitali Kravtsov will remain a spectator with no prediction on when he will get into the lineup.   While David Quinn said that they hadn’t decided on the  lineup, he also said that no one had played badly enough to be pulled.

Quinn also said that Kravtsov is not a fourth line talent so if he was to play he would replace Julien Gauthier on the third “kid line.”  After Wednesday’s practice, Quinn was very complimentary about Gauthier’s recent play, so it looks he will be in the lineup for a while.

If Kravtsov is not going to play in either game against Buffalo, why not let him play for the Wolf Pack who have a game Friday at Bridgeport.  It would get him into a hockey game for the first time since March 11 and if he plays well, maybe he could crack the lineup against Pittsburgh next week. Keeping him with the Rangers has to mean that he has a chance of playing on Saturday, but if that is not  the intent he should be playing for real in Hartford.

Watch Ryan Strome tonight.  He needs one assist to tie Rod Gilbert’s club record for consecutive games with an assist by a forward.  Brian Leetch holds the franchise record with 15 consecutive games with an assist.

Projected lineup

20 Kreider– 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 24 Kakko
13 Lafrenière – 72 Chytil- 12 Gauthier
33 Di Giuseppe- 17 Rooney  – 43 Blackwell

55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
25 Hajek – 42 Smith31

Shesterkin

40 Georgiev

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