Preseason game 4 vs. Devils preview & live conversation

The New York Rangers travel to Newark to take on the New Jersey Devils in the second of back-to-back games against their cross-river rivals.  They lost to the Devils 5-2 in a relative snoozefest featuring a number of Ranger players destined to skate in Hartford, especially on defense.  Look for more of the same tonight.

Tonight marks the preseason debuts for two veterans, Artemi Panarin and Barclay Goodrow.  Unfortunately, Vincent Trocheck had been originally scheduled to skate with the Bread Man, but he is under the weather and has been replaced by Filip Chytil. It will be a few days before we will see what chemistry there is between Panarin and his new center.  We will get to see Panarin skate with Vitali Kravtsov who he has been mentoring in training camp.

Goodrow has been coming along slowly, still recuperating from his broken ankle suffered in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He missed 11 games after the injury, returning for the last eight games. Considering that he is still being handled gingerly, one has to wonder what damage he did to his ankle by returning to the lineup when he did.

Decision time is coming for the forwards and that’s why we will be seeing Jimmy Vesey, Ryan Carpenter, Julien Gauthier, Gustav Rydahl, and Dryden Hunt in the lineup.  They are all vying for the last two slots on the major league roster with Vesey holding the early lead.  Gauthier was a late add, replacing Lauri Pajuniemi so it’s clear they want to see what he can do.

Also playing are Will Cuylle and Jonny Brodzinski who will likely be ticketed for Hartford.  Ryan Reaves in playing tonight and is pretty much guaranteed a job, but the question is how much action he will actually see.

On defense, Zac Jones will be paired with Braden Schneider as that duo looks to be together when the season starts.  Matt Bartkowski is on a Professional Tryout and he was added to the lineup late after playing last night.  He needs to have a good game.

Watching the waiver wires

If the coaching staff is not happy with Bartkowski, Andy Welinski, Libor Hajek, or Jarred Tinordi as defensive depth, they could be looking to pick up a veteran D-man on a waiver claim.  Note that if multiple teams want to claim a player on waivers, it’s based on the standings from the last season so 24 teams would have the first crack at a player. Of course, adding a waivered player would mean he would have to clear waivers if the Rangers wanted to send him down to Hartford.

So far, the only time this has happened was when Arizona claimed goalie Jonas Johansson who had been placed on waivers by Colorado.

NEW YORK RANGERS PROJECTED LINEUP

10 Artemi Panarin – 72 Filip Chytil – 74 Vitali Kravtsov
26 Jimmy Vesey – 76 Jonny Brodzinski – 21 Barclay Goodrow
50 Will Cuylle – 22 Ryan Carpenter – 12 Julien Gauthier
29 Dryden Hunt – 15 Gustav Rydahl – 75 Ryan Reaves

79 K’Andre Miller – 8 Jacob Trouba
6 Zac Jones – 45  Braden Schneider
5 Jarred Tinordi – 14 Matt Bartkowski

41 Jaroslav Halak
70 Louis Domingue

NEW JERSEY DEVILS PROJECTED LINEUP

The Devils will field six forwards who were regulars last night, including Ondrej Palat, their big free agent acquisition.  On defense, Thomas Hickey is notable as he is on a Professional Tryout.

Keep your eyes on young defenseman Simon Nemec who was the second overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft this year.

18 Ondrej Palat – 86 Jack Hughes – 10 Alexander Holtz
11 Andreas Johnsson – 17 Yegor Sharangovich – 63 Jesper Bratt
36 Joseph Gambardella – 70 Jesper Boqvist – 61 Chase Stillman
54 Samuel Laberge – 64 Brian Pinho – 42 Zac Senyshyn

24 Thomas Hickey – 28 Damon Severson
82 Nikita Okhotiuk – 8 Reilly Walsh
33 Ryan Graves – 5 Simon Nemec

29 Mackenzie Blackwood
50 Nico Daws
40 Akira Schmid

How to watch & the live conversation

The game is scheduled to start at 7 pm and it will be televised nationally on the NHL Network and locally on the MSG Network. No Sam and Joe on this telecast, we will be forced to listen to the Devils’ play-by-play.  Yup, Ken Danyko.  Ugh.

Blue Line Station’s live thread is active now and you can comment and converse with your fellow Ranger fans throughout the game in the comments section below.  There are some bugs in the chat and to see new comments you may have to refresh your screen or change the order from newest to oldest to newest again.

The Blueshirts don’t play again until next Wednesday against the Bruins so this will be your last Rangers hockey fix for a few days.  There is some fierce competition from the Mets-Braves game and the Aaron Judge watch, but there’s always a DVR for baseball, right?