Join the live conversation on Lundqvist’s night & the Wild game

It’s one of those special nights for the New York Rangers and their fans as the Blueshirts honor one of the greatest players to ever wear the uniform.  Henrik Lundqvist’s #30 will be raised to the rafters as he joins 10 other Rangers legends to be so honored.

While the Lundqvist festivities will be the memories we will take away from this evening, the hope has to be that the Rangers will come back from a disappointing loss in Columbus and beat  a Minnesota Wild team that is making waves as a Stanley Cup contender.

They will have to do it without Adam Fox who left last night’s game after one shift in the third period with what was reportedly a wrist injury.  He was put on Injured Reserve today, meaning we probably won’t see him again until after the February break and it makes his participation in the All-Star game a question mark.

It appears that Braden Schneider will skate with Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba will be getting top power play minutes. This will be a real test for the Rangers though they will have Igor Shesterkin back in goal.

As for the Minnesota Wild, they have developed into one of the feel good stories in the NHL, currently sitting in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference.  They have  a record of 25-10-3 in 38 games, six fewer than the Rangers. The Wild have had seven games postponed due to  COVID. They’ve won 11 road games so far this season, third most in the West.

The Wild are an offensive force, averaging 3.82 goals per game, third most in the NHL. They’ve done that despite a power play that is ranked 21st overall (17.7%).   They average 3.29 goals per game at 5v5, that’s over a full goal per game more than the Rangers who average 2.24 goals per game.

For the Wild, linemates Kirill Kaprisov and Mats Zuccarello are a match made in heaven as they are the top two scorers on the team. With center Ryan Hartman the trio have a combined plus/minus of +70.   Hartman’s +31 is second best in the NHL and the best for a forward.  Stop the Hartman line and you stop the Wild.

Minnesota has a seven game point streak averaging 4.7 goals per game since January 6. They are coming off an 8-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.  They haven’t lost since the Winter Classic on January 1.

It’s been almost two years since the Rangers played the Wild and it is a very different team. Nine players from that team are still with the Wild.  The Rangers are different as well with only seven players who were in that game playing tonight.

Projected lineups

The Rangers put Morgan Barron on the Taxi Squad and activated Nils Lundkvist and Tim Gettinger.  The preliminary lineup had Zac Jones and Barron starting,but it looks like Gettinger will be in the lineup.

NEW YORK RANGERS

20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 15 Gauthier
10 Panarin– 16 Strome – 21 Goodrow
13 Lafrenière – 17 Rooney – 29 Hunt
26 Gettinger – 14 McKegg   – 75 Reaves

55 Lindgren – 45 Schneider
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
25 Hajek – 6 Jones

31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev

MINNESOTA WILD

97 Kirill Kaprizov – 38 Ryan Hartman – 36 Mats Zuccarello
18 Jordan Greenway – 14 Joel Eriksson Ek – 17 Marcus Foligno
12 Matt Boldy – 89  Frederick Gaudreau – 22 Kevin Fiala
52 Connor Dewar – 49 Victor Rask – 21 Brandon Duhaime

47 Alex Goligoski – 46 Jared Spurgeon
25 Jonas Brodin -24  Matt Dumba
29 Dmitry Kulikov – 8 Jordie Benn

33 Cam Talbot
34 Kaapo Kahkonen

It looks like Cam Talbot will be getting the start.  He and Zuccarello will be invested in the Lundqvist festivities as the Norwegian was one of Lundqvist’s best friends and Talbot was his backup for a couple seasons.  At age 34, Talbot has revived his career after he bottomed out in Edmonton and bounced between three teams in two years.  He’s in his second season in Minnesota and is back where he was when the Rangers traded him to Edmonton.

The Wild are also getting Jonas Brodin back after he missed six games with a broken hand.

How to watch

The actual ceremony is scheduled to take place from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, though the MSG Network will present a documentary about Lundqvist at 5:30pm and then live coverage of the “blue carpet” at 6pm.

Then, bizarrely, the game will be televised on MSG+ as the Knicks game in Milwaukee gets the MSG Network, although the game doesn’t start until 10pm.   It’s ridiculous that on this night, the MSG folks cannot dedicate their primary channel to the Rangers, but as always the 11th place Knicks get the priority.  Unbelievable.

Nationally, the NHL Network will carry the Lundqvist ceremony at 6:30pm as well as the game.

The Blue Line Station live conversation is open now and feel free to weigh in with your thoughts about Henrik Lundqvist during the ceremonies.  Then, we’ll get to dissect the Rangers as take on the Wild in what they hope will be a bounceback win after the loss to Columbus.

Please join in below with your thoughts in the comments section.