Bitter defeat to the Edmonton Oilers on the second half of a back to back left the New York Rangers at the perril of the rest of the Eastern Conference in the playoff push. Thankfully, the Columbus Blue Jackets lost to the New Jersey Devils, meaning only the Montreal Canadeins currently holds the dagger over the throats of the Rangers, and New York can make that harder tonight if they can beat the Calgary Flames at the Garden.
The big news tonight is the scratching of Brennan Othmann. A lot of fans are unhappy with the young Canadian sitting, but it brings in forward Juuso Parssinen, who the Rangers have liked for a long time. This will not be the case for the rest of the season, Othmann will get more game time. I think this is more Peter Laviolette trying to get Parssinen involved rather than sitting Othmann for anything he did wrong.
On the blueline, Carson Soucy and Calvin de Haan are expected to remain as the healthy extras. Adam Fox's return in Columbus made them both extras, and the Rangers do not seem too fussed about mixing up the current defensive pairings. They'll hope that they can play as they did against Columbus, and try to get the two points that way. If they do make changes, they'll have to be in-game adjustments.
Projected Lineups
Calgary Flames
Jonathan Huberdeau - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil
Blake coleman - Morgan Frost - Matt Coronato
Joel Farabee - Yegor Sharangovich - Dryden Hunt
Ryan Lomberg - Kevin Rooney - Adam Klapka
Joel Hanley - MacKenzie Weegar
Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson
Jake Bean - Brayden Pachal
Dan Vladar
Dustin Wolf
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Will Cuylle
Alexis Lafreniere - J.T. Miller - Mika Zibanejad
Chris Kreider - Sam Carrick - Jusso Parssinen
Brett Berard - Jonny Brodzinski - Matt Rempe
K'Andre Miller - Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen - Adam Fox
Zac Jones - Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Puck Drop
It'll be a 7 p.m. puck drop as the Rangers look to get back in the win column following that defeat at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers. Calgary played last night in Toronto, and lost 6-2. The Rangers will be playing them after they've had to travel south of the border to the concrete jungle, and will hope to best them at the Garden. Both teams need the two points for their wild card aspirations, but only one can get them.