New York Rangers Are in Columbus to Take On Blue Jackets

Coming off of the back of a big win in Buffalo to start the season off, the New York Rangers will be returning to action in Columbus, Ohio. Game two of the NHL season will see the Blueshirts take on a young Blue Jackets team that is still transitioning to the new young core they are trying to put in place. Still, with the ability to hurt some teams with the offensive firepower they have, this is a team that can hurt you.

Some important things to follow on the Blue Jackets’ side of things include the transition of Patrik Laine to center. He’s been one of the strongest goal-scoring wingers in the league to this point in his career, but with the Jackets paper-thin down the middle, the transition to the middle of the ice is an experiment to keep an eye on. New York’s centers will need to win the battle in the middle of the ice and prove the Ranger’s advantage in that area.

This is a game that you cannot look past if you are the Rangers.  A win tonight will move the Rangers above the New Jersey Devils in the standings to the top of the Metropolitan Division. It’s too early in the season to be overly concerned about that, but these points could be very important at the end of the season. This is a team the Rangers should be handling tonight, so let’s see the boys get it done.

New York Rangers

Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin – Filip Chytil – Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle – Vincent Trocheck – Blake Wheeler
Barclay Goodrow – Nick Bonino – Jimmy Vesey

Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller – Jacob Trouba
Erik Gustafsson – Braden Schneider

Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick

Columbus Blue Jackets

Adam Fantilli – Patrik Laine – Alexandre Texier
Kirill Marchenko – Boone Jenner – Johnny Gaudreau
Justin Danforth – Cole Sillinger – Kent Johnson
Liam Foudy – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier

Ivan Provorov – David Jiricek
Damon Severson – Adam Boqvist
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson

Elvis Merzlikins
Spencer Martin

Puck Drop

This is a 7 PM Eastern Start from Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. MSG and Bally Sports: Columbus will have the team feeds for those who want to watch. Peter Laviolette and his team will be looking to build on the sharp start that they had in Buffalo to open the season. Getting going early against this Jackets team that will want to keep the game as quiet as they can will be the most important thing tonight.