The 2024-25 season is on the verge of being wasted by the New York Rangers. They are trying to keep their season alive when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs later tonight in a game they have to win if they want even foolish ambitions of the postseason. Shrinking in big games has been a recent theme for the Blueshirts, but they can attempt to pull the season from the ruins by stringing a few wins together, starting tonight.
Toronto played against the Colorado Avalanche last night at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. They had to fly into New York early this morning and will be tired from playing against a contending team like the Avalanche. New York has to capitalize on this with a tired opponent coming into town. Their schedule will only get more difficult in the coming weeks, so this requires two points, even against an excellent team like the Leafs.
Igor Shesterkin has followed up a shutout of the Columbus Blue Jackets by allowing two goals in his last two starts. He's not the reason for this skid, and the Rangers need to be much better in front of him. There's a chance for the Rangers to start pulling out of this nose dive they're on, and we saw it happen back in November, but they have to start getting their feet under them before it is too late.
Projected Lineups
Toronto Maple Leafs
Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Pontus Holmberg - John Tavares - William Nylander
Bobby McMann - Max Domi - Nicolas Robertson
Steven Lorentz - Scott Laughton - Calle Jarnkrok
Morgan Reilly - Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe - Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Anthony Stolarz
Joseph Woll
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Will Cuylle
Alexis Lafreniere - J.T. Miller - Mika Zibanejad
Chris Kreider - Sam Carrick - Juuso Parssinen
Brett Berard - Jonny Brodzinski - Matt Rempe
K'Andre Miller - Adam Fox
Carson Soucy - Will Borgen
Zac Jones - Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Puck Drop
Tonight's game will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern as the Rangers look to respond to their recent skid by beating a team in the second half of a back-to-back. They need the two points; they cannot afford to keep dropping in the standings if this team wants to make the postseason. New York must win and hope a few results elsewhere go their way to get them back into the playoff picture. The number of games the Rangers have played is their big issue, so they need to put the pressure on by winning.