Rangers are in Denver to take on the Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche

This run of games does not get any easier for the Rangers as the next stop on this trip out west is a mile high. Denver is the destination as the Colorado Avalanche looks determined to deface rumors of demise at the detriment of the Blueshirts. I’d like to consider this a game of what could have been had the Rangers managed to beat the Lightning in the playoffs last year but that is not quite the case in tonight’s fixture.

Colorado has not just been bitten by the injury bug but has seemed to suffer from a plague of them. Only one member of their recognizable top six remains. On the back end, two towers that usually blockade the back end will be unable to barricade the blueline for the Avalanche. Injuries are running rampant through the Avalanche roster but that doesn’t mean this is a roster that you can pack it in early against.

Gallant announced for his guys, it would be the same lineup that decimated the Vegas Golden Knights. With a four-goal third period to put that game well out of reach, the Rangers bench boss decided that there was no need to tamper with a winning formula. Shesterkin goes again the Rangers will seek to make this a winning streak in their efforts to re-enter the playoff places.

New York recently waived depth forward Ryan Carpenter and assigned the forward to the Hartford Wolf Pack in the American Hockey League. There’s nothing wrong with what Carpenter was doing in the NHL, but this will help the Rangers bolster their cap space accruement before the trade deadline building up as much money as they can wherever it is possible to do so.

New York Rangers

Alexis Lafreniere – Mika Zibanejad – Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin – Filip Chytil – Barclay Goodrow
Chris Kreider – Vincent Trocheck – Jimmy Vesey
Sammy Blais – Jonny Brodzinski – Julien Gauthier

Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller – Jacob Trouba
Libor Hajek – Braden Schneider

Igor Shesterkin
Jaroslav Halak

Colorado Avalanche

Alex Newhook — Mikko Rantanen — Valeri Nichushkin
Andrew Cogliano — J.T. Compher — Logan O’Connor
Dryden Hunt — Ben Meyers — Charles Hudon
Jean-Luc Foudy — Callahan Burke — Jacob MacDonald

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Andreas Englund
Brad Hunt — Erik Johnson

Alexandar Georgiev
Pavel Francouz

How to watch and puck drop time.

This game will be on Altitude sports for fans in the Mile High city. MSG2 will hold the New York Rangers coverage with Sam and Joe. This is a game the Rangers will be looking for two points during this 9 PM Eastern puck drop. Losing to a team enduring this many injuries could be a true nail in the coffin in terms of the Rangers’ push to capture a playoff spot.