Another step into the future vs. Flyers with Zac Jones in the lineup
With Jacob Trouba out with an upper body injury (translation: concussion), we will see Zac Jones make his NHL debut tonight against the Flyers at Madison Square Garden. Jones is one of the Rangers top prospects and he is fresh from winning a national NCAA title with UMass.
Zac Jones will make his NHL debut tonight for #NYR, per Coach Quinn. pic.twitter.com/BIqjYgjRtM
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 22, 2021
Not only that, but Libor Hajek will also be back with Tony Bitetto sitting out. The defense pairings will be K’Andre Miller with Brendan Smith and Hajek will play with Zac Jones, with Jones on the right side where he has played before.
That means after Smith who is 31, the Rangers defense will be made up of three 22 year olds (Fox, Lindgren, Hajek), a 21 year old in Miller and a 20 year old in Jones.
There will be another change to the forward lines with Alexis Lafrenière playing with Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich on the first line with Chris Kreider taking his place on the third line with Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko.
Igor Shesterkin will get the start in goal as he looks to rebound from the worst loss of his career. He wasn’t awful in allowing six goals to the Islanders, the most in his brief time in the NHL. The Rangers playoffs hopes may be fading, but it’s obvious that David Quinn is going to ride Shesterkin until the end of the season.
About the Rangers
With the playoffs a virtual pipe dream, the question facing David Quinn and the Rangers is when will he commit to using his younger players more extensively. With four games against the Flyers and Sabres coming up it is very possible that the Rangers can go on a run and raise false hopes for the playoffs.
While we love Tony Bitetto’s desire and heart, it would be better for next season if the Rangers played Libor Hajek and Zac Jones. Chris Kreider may be drawing a $6.5 million salary, but now is the time to experiment with Vitali Kravtsov on the left wing next to Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich.
The team is allowed four call ups from Hartford the rest of the season without affecting the salary cap and now is the time to see if Morgan Barron’s AHL success can translate to the NHL. Is Tarmo Reunanen a well rounded NHL-ready defenseman or is he merely an offensive weapon? Ty Ronning has been tearing up the AHL with nine goals and 16 points in 13 games. He is due a new contract so now is the time to see if he is a keeper. Center Justin Richards is a defensive stalwart for the Wolf Pack. Is he the answer for the fourth line if the Rangers need a center who can play shutdown defense and win faceoffs?
The Wolf Pack won today 3-1 with goals from Ronning, Barron and Jonny Brodzinksi and Reunanen adding another assist to his total.
Some will argue that playing the kids is throwing in the towel and giving up on the season. That’s not so. There are still some pretty good NHL players on the roster and they make up the heart of this team. Sitting Kevin Rooney and Brendan Smith in order to see some of these kids in NHL action is not a slight, it’s a reality. And let’s not even talk about Julien Gauthier.
Projected lineup
13 Lafrenière – 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 43 Blackwell
20 Kreider–72 Chytil- 24 Kakko
21 Howden – 17 Rooney – 72 Kravtsov
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 42 Smith
25 Hajek – 6 Jones
31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev
About the Flyers
The Flyers know that their playoff goose is cooked. 11 points behind the Bruins for the last playoff spot with only 11 games to go, it’s over. Coach Alain Vigneault knows it and in a tweet yesterday from the team, they committed to playing hard the rest of the season and giving the kids an opportunity to play.
“There are some young guys we want to take a look at so we’re going to use this time wisely.”- AV on the final stretch of the season. @AAAMidAtlantic | #AnytimeAnywhere pic.twitter.com/5op6fbR2kZ
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 20, 2021
The Flyers tragic number is 11. Any combination of 11 points gained by the Bruins or lost by Philadelphia and they will be eliminated, joining the Sabres and Devils.
Ranger fans who are very familiar with Alain Vigneault are no doubt speculating about his future with the team. This is his second year with the team and they were expected to be a solid playoff contender so this season has to be a bitter disappointment.
The biggest issue for the Flyers has been their usual bugaboo, goaltending. Carter Hart was expected to be one of the top netminders in the NHL and he has been awful. His record is 9-11 with a Goals Against Average of 3.67 and a Save Percentage of .877. One question is whether the Flyers will give Hart lots of work down the stretch to see if he can work on his issues.
Projected lineup
93 Jakub Voracek – 14 Sean Couturier-11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee- 28 Claude Giroux – 57 Wade Allison
23 Oskar Lindblom – 13 Kevin Hayes -25 James Van Riemsdyk
81 Carsen Twarynski – 21 Scott Laughton – 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov – 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim – 5 Philippe Myers
55 Samuel Morin – 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
37 Brian Elliott
79 Carter Hart
This season
This will be the seventh meeting between the two teams. This has been a bizarre season for the two teams with two major goal outbursts by the Rangers, but they’ve still only taken seven of 12 possible points from Philly.
February 18 – Rangers 3, Flyers 2 (shootout win): The Rangers blew a third period lead, but were able to prevail in the shootout on goals from Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko. This game in Philadelphia was the Flyers’ first game after a COVID-related pause.
February 24 – Flyers 4, Rangers 3: Chris Kreider scored all three goals for the Rangers, but it was Claude Giroux’s three assists that gave the Flyers a 43 win in Philadelphia.
March 15 – Flyers 5, Rangers 4 (overtime loss): Another blown third period lead led to at overtime win for the Flyers at Madison Square Garden. Jakub Voracek scored on a breakaway in OT to win it.
March 17 – Rangers 9, Flyers 0: Everything seemed to go in for the Rangers as they coasted to one of their biggest wins in franchise history at Madison Square Garden. It was a record setting night for Mika Zibanejad as the team won in Kris Knoblauch’s debut behind the bench with the regular coaching staff sidelined by COVID.
March 25 – Rangers 8, Flyers 3: Another big night for the Rangers, this time on the road, as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead just three minutes into the second period. Zibanejad notched six points in the second consecutive game against the Flyers, setting an NHL record.
March 27 – Flyers 2, Rangers 1: After scoring 17 goals in two games, the Flyers held the Rangers to only one goal and Samuel Morin scored his first NHL goal late in the third period to steal a point from the Blueshirts.
3 Keys to winning
- Shoot the puck – The Rangers blew away both Brian Elliott and Carter Hart in their eight and nine goal games. Only the Ottawa Senators allow more goals per game than Philadelphia.
- Don’t get goal happy – This was the fatal flaw for the Rangers in their loss to the Islanders. On numerous occasions the Rangers forwards were transitioning to offense too early and got caught out of position. The Islanders made them pay. The Flyers have some talented forwards and can do the same.
- Win special teams (with one major change) – The Flyers are in the middle of the pack when it comes to their power play while the Rangers are one of the top teams in the league. Philadelphia’s penalty kill is second worst in the NHL. Isn’t this the perfect opportunity to give Kravtsov, Jones, Miller, Kakko, Lafreniere and Gauthier some time on the power play alongside Panarin and Fox? We know that Kreider can score power play goals, but what about the kids?
East Division
Thursday’s games
Flyers @ Rangers
Bruins @ Sabres
Capitals @ Islanders
Devils @ Penguins
Standings
1- Washington 46 29-13-4 62 points
— Islanders 46 29-13-4 62 points
3- Pittsburgh 46 29-14-3 61 points
4- Boston 44 26-12-6 58 points
5- Rangers 46 23-17-6 52 points
6–Philadelphia 45 20-18-7 47 points
7- New Jersey 45 14-25-6 34 points
8- Buffalo 46 12-27-7 31 points
About the game and join the live conversation
The game starts at 7pm EST and it will be It will be televised on the MSG Network with the radio call on ESPN 98.7 FM.
Be sure and join the live conversation here on Blue Line Station. The live thread can be found in the conversations section (below). It’s probably time to watch and talk about these games with an eye towards next season and what the Rangers should do this off-season.