Rangers take on the Florida Panthers in a weekend matinee
By Conor Power
After a nice victory in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Rangers are in the Sunshine State to take on the resurgent Florida Panthers. After a rough start to the season, the Florida Panthers have started to heat up at the right time as the reigning Presidents Trophy winners look to find their way into the dance to compete for the Stanley Cup, the Rangers will have motives of their own to continue to seek the two points in Sunrise tonight.
After the New Jersey Devils lost to the Buffalo Sabres yesterday night, the Rangers are now just 4 points behind their Hudson River rivals with the same number of games played. A win tonight would bring them within two of the Devils and within 4 points of the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes who play the Maple Leafs later tonight. If the Rangers want a chance to have home ice and possibly a division title, they can put the pressure on with a victory at FLA Live Arena.
Ryan Lindgren was a late scratch for the 2-1 win in Raleigh. Whether or not he plays tonight in Southern Florida remains unknown but we have seen that the team is better with Lindgren than without him so this would be a major loss for a team trying to get back into the hunt for the Metropolitan Division title. Whether or not they get there may be impacted by the health of their premium shutdown defenseman.
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin – Mika Zibanejad – Vladimir Tarasenko
Chris Kreider – Vincent Trocheck – Patrick Kane
Alexis Lafreniere – Filip Chytil – Kaapo Kakko
Jimmy Vesey – Barclay Goodrow – Tyler Motte
K’Andre Miller – Jacob Trouba
Niko Mikkola – Adam Fox
Ben Harpur – Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jaroslav Halak
Florida Panthers
Anton Lundell – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Eetu Luostarinen – Matthew Tkachuk
Ryan Lomberg – Eric Staal – Anthony Duclair
Givani Smith – Colin White – Nick Cousins
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Marc Staal – Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura – Radko Gudas
Sergei Bobrovsky
Alex Lyon
Puck drop time and where to watch
This is a 5 PM Eastern puck drop because the NHL loves to mess with the Rangers’ start times. This will be available on Bally Sports Florida for those in the sunshine state that cannot attend the game. MSG will have the Rangers feed as usual if you would like to listen to Sam and Joe talk about the Rangers during their chase for the Metropolitan Division title.