Live conversation as Rangers look to get back to winning
By Steve Paulus
The New York Rangers take on the Devils in Newark, riding a two game losing streak. They’ve hit a speed bump an despite coming back from a three goal third period deficit against Philadelphia. A a win against their arch rivals would go a long way towards answering some questions about the team.
The Rangers lost badly to the Devils two weeks ago in their last visit to the Prudential Center, dropping a 7-4 decision. That game came after the Rangers had beaten Tampa and Carolina and was just before the Rangers dominated the Penguins.
Rangers vs Devils this season
This is the final meeting of the season between the two teams with the Rangers owning a 2-1 record so far. The Rangers won the first game on November 14 in a shootout, 4-3 at the Garden with Alexandar Georgiev in goal. On March 4, Igor Shesterkin held them to one goal as the Rangers won 3-1, also at home. The last meeting was the 7-4 debacle in Newark on March 22.
Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Adam Fox each have two goals and four points against the Devils this season to lead the team. Jack Hughes is out of the lineup and leads with two goals against the Rangers though Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier lead all Devils each with a goal and three assists for four points in the three games.
Projected starting lineups
The injured Kaapo Kakko and Kevin Rooney didn’t accompany the team to New Jersey for the morning skate so it looks like they are still not ready to play. With Pittsburgh the opponent on Thursday, it would like Saturday vs Ottawa being the first time they would be back in the lineup. It does look like Ryan Strome is ready to return. No word on who will be in goal, with the NHL listing Alexandar Georgiev as the expected starter. He is 5-2-0 lifetime against the Devils with a 2.96 goals against average (GAA) and .897 save percentage (Sv%). If Shesterkin is in goal, he has a career 6-3-0 record with a 2.58 GAA and .923 Sv%.
NEW YORK RANGERS
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 77 Vatrano
23 Panarin – 16 Strome -18 Copp
13 Lafreniere – 72 Chytil – 21 Goodrow
64 Motte – 76 Brodzinski – 29 Hunt
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
15 Nemeth – 61 Braun
40 Georgiev
31 Shesterkin
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
44 Miles Wood – 13 Nico Hischier – 63 Jesper Bratt
11 Andreas Johnsson – 18 Dawson Mercer – 90 Tomas Tatar
17 Yegor Sharangovich – 70 Jesper Boqvist – 59 Janne Kuokkanen
16 Jimmy Vesey – 37 Pavel Zacha – 20 Michael McLeod
71 Jonas Siegenthaler – 7 Dougie Hamilton
33 Ryan Graves– 28 Damon Severson
24 Ty Smith – 76 P.K. Subban
50 Nico Daws
35 Andrew Hammond
Nico Daws will be in goal for the Devils and is 1-1 versus New York lifetime with a 3.52 GAA and a .896 Sv%. Jack Hughes was injured in a knee on knee hit Sunday versus the Islanders and is out for a while. He has missed 21 games this season with injuries.
How to watch and the live conversation
The games starts at 7pm and will be televised on the MSG Network with the live stream on ESPN+. If you care, the Devils call will be on MSG2+.
Blue Line Station’s live conversation is active now and you can talk about the game with your fellow Rangers fans in the comments section below. Join in as we hope that the Blueshirts get off to a fast start.