The trade deadline has come to pass, and the New York Rangers return to the ice tonight. They're playing against the Ottawa Senators in a gigantic clash in the playoff push. Ottawa currently sits above the Rangers in a playoff spot on points percentage, so a win tonight for the Rangers will see them leap over the Senators and into pole position for a playoff place. It'll be a challenging game, but if Peter Laviolette's men can pull it off, they'll make an excellent case for the playoff chase.
New York will be without its newest addition, Carson Soucy, who isn't expected to play tonight. His trade from the Vancouver Canucks happened late Thursday, and there has been no movement from there on. Only minor trades for the Hartford Wolf Pack have occurred since, and now they will take on a team that made significant moves at the deadline. We'll see if the Rangers can compete in the Canadian Capital, but it'll be a challenging game.
Ottawa made a significant move, trading Jacob Bernard-Docker and Joshua Norris to the Buffalo Sabres for Dylan Cozens. They hope to get more from the Whitehorse, Yukon native. Ottawa also acquired Fabian Zetterlund from the San Jose Sharks. Both are expected to play tonight because it's easier to go from US to Canadian teams regarding work visas and paperwork.
Projected Lineups
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle - J.T. Miller - Mika Zibanejad
Brett Berard - Sam Carrick - Juuso Parssinen
Brennan Othmann - Jonny Brodzinski - Matt Rempe
K'Andre Miller - Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen - Braden Schneider
Calvin de Haan - Zac Jones
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Ottawa Senators
Brady Tkachuk - Tim Stutzle - Claude Giroux
Fabian Zetterlund - Dylan Cozens - Drake Batherson
Ridly Grieg - Shane Pinto - David Perron
Michael Amadio - Adam Gaudette - Matthew Highmore
Jake Sanderson - Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot - Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven - Travis Hamonic
Linus Ullmark
Anton Forsberg
Puck Drop
This game is a matinee, and it's a 12:30 start from Ottawa. If the Rangers are going to close the gap in the wild card race and continue the fight to close the gap to the New Jersey Devils, they need the two points tonight. The Rangers still have all the pieces they need to make a deep playoff run, but they need to make it first, and a win tonight would be pivotal. After the last time these two teams met, expect a few fireworks too.