It’s time to beat the Penguins

About the Rangers

Igor Shesterkin is in goal and there are some changes being made to the forward lines with Colin Blackwell on the line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome,  Kaapo Kakko dropping to the third line and Vitali Kravtsov being moved to the fourth line.

After practice, Coach David Quinn confirmed that Julien Gauthier is the odd man out and will be a healthy scratch in favor of Phil Di Giuseppe.   Quinn explained the move.  “We think Di Giuseppe brings a little more simplicity to what we think we need tonight against Pittsburgh. Sometimes it’s just match-up driven. Julien’s done some good things…he continues to improve, but right now with Howden back and Kravtsov here, there’s more competition.”  He continued “sometimes a guy who might be playing well might be out of the lineup.”

Quinn talked about the “kid line” saying that they are different players from where they were two months ago when they first played together.  “We’re curious to see how this looks.  There’s a lot of discussion about how our lineup should look like moving forward….It’s something we want to start with tonight and see how it goes. ”

Quinn did throw a huge caveat into that saying it could change at any moment.   He also hinted that they had talked about Lafrenière getting some time on the power play. Believe it or not, Lafrenière has had more power play ice time than Kaapo Kakko.  He has been on for 58:33 minutes compared to 41:37 for Kakko.   Those numbers pale compared to the PP ice time for Zibanejad (153:19) and Panarin’s average of 4:35 minutes per game.

Adam Fox will look to extend his 10 game point scoring streak. He has two goals and 16 assists those ten games.  Only Brian Leetch, Brad Park and Reijo Ruotsalainen have had longer streaks.

Projected lineup

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

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

31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev

Good news from Sweden

Good news from overseas as Rangers defense prospect Nils Lundkvist was named recipient of the Salming Award, given to the best Swedish-born defenseman in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).

He finished the regular season with 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games. He led all blueliners in goals (14) and power play goals (8) while averaging 21:24 minutes per game. No defenseman 21 or younger has ever scored as many goals in a season, topping the 11 goals he scored last season.

The regular season is over in the SHL and that means Lundkvist and his Luleå team will be taking on Skellefteå in the Quarterfinals of the playoffs with that series scheduled to begin on April 11.

The assumption is that once fifth seeded Luleå  is out of the playoffs, Lundkvist will sign his Entry Level Contract though it is doubtful that we will see him in North America this season.   With an opening on the right side of the Rangers defense next season, he will be given a real shot to make the team.  Then again, he could be trade bait in a deal for a number one center as he is considered  the best player in the Rangers prospect pool now that Kravtsov has joined the Rangers.