A big test in Toronto and live conversation

The New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs each have 23 points, fourth most in the NHL. Both teams are riding four-game winning streaks as they meet for the second time this season at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

This is an important game for both teams and will tell us a lot about just how much progress the Broadway Blueshirts have made 16 games into the season.

The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to the Maple Leafs is their loaded offense, led by Auston Matthew who was the top scorer last season with 41 goals.  But it’s team defense that is keeping the Maple Leafs on pace with the Florida Panthers.  Believe it or not, the Rangers 2.75 goals per game is slightly better than the Leafs’ 2.71.

The Maple Leafs have the sixth most stingy defense, allowing 2.47 goals per game compared to the Blueshirts’ 2.81.  Toronto has scored only four more goals than they have allowed while the Rangers are dead even.

That said, the Maple Leaf have been playing very well, with nine wins in their last ten games.  That’s after a 2-4-1 start that included an overtime loss to the Rangers.  Those nine wins were against tough competition including Vegas, Tampa, Boston and Calgary.

Gerard Gallant acknowledged that the Rangers will need to play better than they did the last time the two teams met.  He said “It’s two teams that are playing real good hockey right now…I think it’s going to be a real good match-up. ”  When asked what he has liked about the Rangers play recently, Gallant said “Playing better defensive game, managing the puck a lot better, not turning the puck over in the neutral zone…those are things that every coach talks about, but we’ve definitely done the last three or four games….tonight…hopefully will do the same type of stuff.”

Some observers have questioned Nils Lundkvist’s continued role as a starter.  After practice Wednesday, Gallant said that they assess the competition and decide between Lundkvist and Tinordi  on  game-to-game basis.   Of Lundkvist’s play, Gallant said “It’s steady, there’s nothing real flashy out there…he moves the puck well, he’s got a lot of skill, he’s got a good hockey IQ. He’s everything we thought he was.”   He pointed out that Lundkvist and the second power play unit hasn’t gotten much playing time adding   “We’re happy as hell with him.”

Projected lineups

The Rangers lineup will be identical to the team that skated against Montreal.  Igor Shesterkin will get his second straight start in got.  He stole two points for the Rangers in the first meeting of the year, a game that featured an overtime goal from Artemi Panarin.  How badly were they outplayed?  The Maple Leafs owned  41-23 shot advantage including a 17-2 margin in the second period.  The Rangers cannot afford to let that happen again.

NEW YORK RANGERS

20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 21 Goodrow
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 24 Kakko
13 Lafrenière– 72 Chytil– 15 Gauthier
29 Hunt – 17 Rooney – 75 Reaves

55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
12 Nemeth – 27 Lundkvist

31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

20 Nick Ritchie -34 Auston Matthews -16  Mitchell Marner
15 Alexander Kerfoot – 91 John Tavares – 88 William Nylander
47 Pierre Engvall – 64 David Kampf -25  Ondrej Kase
58 Michael Bunting – 19 Jason Spezza  – 24- Wayne Simmonds

44 Morgan Rielly – 78 TJ Brodie
8 Jake Muzzin – 3 Justin Holl
38 Rasmus Sandin – 23 Travis Dermott

36 Jack Campbell
60 Joseph Woll

Back up goalie Petr Mrazek is on injured reserve and that means Jack Campbell has started 13 of 17 games for the Leafs, including seven of the last eight. He will be in net tonight.  The Maple Leafs acquired veteran winger Kyle Clifford from the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and he was sent to the AHL.

Department of Player Safety?

If you missed it, the NHL Department of Player Safety fined Brendan Gallagher $2,500 for sucker punching Barclay Goodrow on Tuesday night.

For what it is worth, that fine is half of the $5,000 fine that Tom Wilson got for ragdolling Artemi Panarin and cross checking Pavel Buchnevich on the back of the head.  While Wilson’s fine was the maximum allowable under the CBA, does Wilson’s punishment make any sense? Enough said.

How to watch and the live conversation

The game will start at 7pm and the telecast will be on MSG Network with the radiocast on ESPN 98.7 FM.  Nationally, the game will be live streamed on ESPN+.

As usual Blue Line Station will be hosting its live in-game conversation using the comments feature below. We’ve had some issues with the comments refreshing and are working on that, so please bear with us. One workaround is to change how the comments sort from “newest” to “oldest” and back to “newest” again.

Join the conversation and share your thoughts with your fellow Ranger fans as we see if the Blueshirts can keep up their outstanding play.