There have been a number of games that could be called benchmarks for the New York Rangers. They’ve played after bad losses, won important games on the road and survived the loss of their top goalie. But tonight, this one matters more. The Rangers are looking to rebound from a bad 7-3 loss at home and to avoid losing two games in a row in regulation for the first time this season against a red hot Colorado Avalanche team.
First off, this game is not available on traditional cable television. As part of the NHL’s deal with ESPN, this game will be only on ESPN+ with a live stream on Hulu. If you don’t subscribe to either service, you cannot watch the game (legally).
Coach Gerard Gallant is looking forward to the rematch. He said “They were pretty dominant in the game against us. So they were really good. It’s good to play a team like that…we’ve done it a few times with Chicago and those teams. I enjoy those…when you play within a week and a half of each other.”
He described his recipe for success. “”The turnovers in the neutral zone gave them a lot of transition goals and transition rushes…Last game we weren’t as aggressive in front of the net and we didn’t screen the goalie…We had some chances, but it didn’t feel like those chances were going to go in the net. We gotta get a few more people in front of the net. No doubt about it.”
All signs are that it will be Alexandar Georgiev in goal for New York. It was Adam Huska last game and he was shelled in his NHL debut. We’ll never know why he got the start, though with the team trying to build up Georgiev’s confidence, holding him out against an offensive powerhouse made some sense. No excuses tonight. Georgiev will have to be at his best.
He should be opposed by Darcy Kuemper who was in net and made 26 saves last week. He will be backed up by Pavel Francouz who just returned from an AHL conditioning assignment and who missed last season with an injury
The Avalanche haven’t slowed down since beating the Rangers, winning 7-3 over Detroit and edging the Panthers 3-2 on Sunday in a meeting of two of the hottest teams in the NHL. Both of those games were at home. When they beat Detroit, they became the first team in 26 years to score seven goals in three straight games.
If the Rangers can win tonight, it will go a long way towards convincing NHL observers that they are for real. Skeptics will point out that the only top teams the Rangers have beaten are Toronto and Florida while most of their losses have been to the league’s best, including Calgary (twice), Edmonton, Washington, Toronto and of course, Colorado. While the good news is that they are beating the teams that they should beat, a win over the Avalanche would be significant.
It’s a fair criticism. Of the 15 teams with the most points this season, they have yet to play Carolina, Minnesota, Tampa, Anaheim, St. Louis or Vegas. Against the teams they have played, their record is 3-5-1.
More on Lafrenière
After practice Gallant was asked about Alexis Lafrenière’s ice time and he elaborated on why he sat him down against Nashville. Gallant said “I just want him to play a strong game. Be stronger on the puck. We’ve talked about those turnovers. He was trying to make too many of those cute plays that didn’t work and he knows that. It’s our job as coaches, we’re trying to win the hockey game. If you’re not going, not playing the best game, you might sit a bit.”
He explained that he went down to three lines and somebody had to sit. In this case it was Lafrenière and Ryan Reaves and to a lesser degree, Kaapo Kakko.
Projected lineups
It looks like the lineup will be that same that skated on Sunday versus Nashville. Nils Lundkvist didn’t skate at practice so it’s a safe bet to assume that Libor Harek will get his second straight game after sitting out the first 26.
NEW YORK RANGERS
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 24 Kakko
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 29 Hunt
13 Lafrenière– 72 Chytil– 15 Gauthier
17 Rooney – 21 Goodrow– 75 Reaves
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
25 Hajek – 12 Nemeth
40 Georgiev
72 Kinkaid
COLORADO AVALANCHE
95 Andre Burakovsky – 29 Nathan MacKinnon – 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Valeri Nichushkin – 91 Nazem Kadri – 25 Logan O’Connor
16 Nicolas Aube-Kubel – 18 Alex Newhook – 37 J.T. Compher
17 Tyson Jost – 11 MIkhail Maltsev – 43 Darren Helm
49 Samuel Girard – 8 Cale Makar
72 Justin Barron – 6 Erik Johnson
3 Jack Johnson – 56 Kurtis MacDermid
35 Darcy Kuemper
39 Pavel Francouz
The Avalanche have been hit by a number of injuries since last week. The biggest loss is Gabriel Landeskog, out for a couple weeks with a lower body injury. Top pair defenseman Devin Toews just went on the COVID protocol list and will miss the game. As a result, Morgan Barron’s little brother, Justin, will make his NHL debut. Toews was named the NHL’s third star of the week for last week.
How to watch and the live conversation
As noted above, the game is available only on ESPN+ with their live stream also on Hulu. The radio call will be on WEPN 1050 AM. Game time is 9pm EST.
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 your fellow Blueshirts fans as we root on the Rangers. After last week, they will need all of the good vibes we can muster.