Tarasenko makes his Rangers debut against the Kraken
By Conor Power
After making a big move yesterday in order to acquire Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola from the St Louis Blues, the Rangers will take on the Seattle Kraken as they get to show off the shiny new pieces that have been added to one of the best rosters in the Eastern Conference. Everything will be on display tonight as the Blueshirts will see their first half of a back-to-back start with a difficult Western Conference foe.
Tarasenko will come into the lineup for Leschyshyn. That seems like it is simple on paper but with Blais being moved back to St Louis in the trade that brought Tarasenko to New York, it was not entirely clear who would come out. Vladimir will be put on the top line with Panarin and Zibanejad to create one of the most offensively gifted lines in hockey. There’s a lot to like about that idea moving forward.
On the backend, Niko Mikkola will slot into the lineup for Ben Harpur after Libor Hajek was waived and sent down to AHL Hartford to make room for the large Finnish defenseman. Mikkola will be sliding into the lineup next to Braden Schneider. Do not expect this to be a fantastic pair right away as there are bound to be growing pains and with this being against one of the deepest teams in the NHL, there’s going to be a lot of pressure.
Seattle Kraken
Jared McCann – Matty Beniers – Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz – Alex Wennberg – Ryan Donato
Eeli Tolvanen – Yanni Gourde – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Brandon Tanev – Morgan Geekie – Daniel Sprong
Vince Dunn – Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak – Will Borgen
Carson Soucy – Justin Schultz
Martin Jones
Philipp Grubauer
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin – Mika Zibanejad – Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexis Lafreniere – Filip Chytil – Kaapo Kakko
Chris Kreider – Vincent Trocheck – Vitali Kravtsov
Jimmy Vesey – Barclay Goodrow – Julien Gauthier
Ryan Lindgren — Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller — Jacob Trouba
Niko Mikkola — Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jaroslav Halak
Puck drop time and where to watch
For the Rangers, this 7 PM Eastern puck drop time is going to start a back-to-back that ends with a game against the Carolina Hurricanes so securing two points tonight is going to be pivotal. Madison Square Garden will be the venue if you want to watch the MSG feed for those in the market or that have access to it. Seattle will be covered by ROOT Sports as per usual with John Forslund on that call.