The New York Rangers haven’t won their first three games in a season since 2015-16. With two wins under their belt, they will go for three on short rest as they try to ruin Winnipeg’s home opener. The Jets will have to shake off some rust as they haven’t played since their last preseason game a week ago.
The Rangers will feature the same lineup that beat the Wild, with the only change in goal where Jaroslav Halak will be making his Rangers debut. The Blueshirts will have to tighten up defensively as they were much too dependent on Igor Shesterkin in the win over Minnesota.
Two ex-Rangers are starting for the Jets as we get to see Morgan Barron and Neal Pionk in action. Barron had two goals and four points in 14 games for the Jets after the trade for Andrew Copp. Pionk has been a steady presence on the blue line since leaving New York in the Jacob Trouba trade.
With Mika Zibanejad starring in the opener and Artemi Panarin leading the way in their second game, the question is who will step up in this game. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for ex-Jet Jacob Trouba.
The Rangers are riding a four-game winning streak over Winnipeg with their last loss to the Jets in February 2019.
Projected starting lineups
New York Rangers
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 24 Kakko
10 Panarin – 16 Trocheck– 13 Lafreniere
26 Vesey-72 Chytil – 21 Goodrow
29 Hunt – 22 Carpenter – 75 Reaves
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
4 Schneider – 6 Jones
41 Halak
31 Shesterkin
Winnipeg Jets
81 Kyle Connor – 55 Mark Scheifele – 27 Nikolaj Ehlers
91 Cole Perfetti – 80 Pierre-Luc Dubois – 26 Blake Wheeler
36 Morgan Barron – 17 Adam Lowry – 22 Mason Appleton
8 Saku Maenalanen – 19 David Gustafsson – 89 Sam Gagner
44 Josh Morrissey – 2 Dylan DeMelo
5 Brenden Dillon – 4 Neal Pionk
64 Logan Stanley – 88 Nate Schmidt
37 Connor Hellebuyck
33 David Rittich
Connor Hellebuyck should be getting the start tonight. He has not been great playing the Rangers with a career record of 3-5-0 in eight games with a goals-against average (GAA) of 3.57 and a save percentage (Sv%) of .873. Meanwhile, Jaroslav Halak has a career record of 8-4-1 with a 3.12 GAA and a .898 Sv%.
How to watch & the live conversation
The game starts at 8 pm and it will be televised on MSG Sportsnet (formerly MSG Plus) so we get Sam and Joe again thank goodness. The live stream will be on ESPN+.
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The Rangers will be the first team in the NHL to play three games except for Nashville and San Jose who started the season in Europe. Starting the campaign with three games in four days is a heavy workload, but if they keep winning, no problem.