It's the second half of this back-to-back, and the New York Rangers host the Chicago Blackhawks to finish it off. Coming off that 7-5 defeat to the Seattle Kraken last night, the Rangers know they have to deliver a few better performances if they are going to attempt to sort out their struggles. If they weather the storm, we can all move on from this and address the rest of the season with expectations and hopes, but the Blueshirts need to win and win soon.
After Shesterkin got the night off to be with his wife, who was expecting, we could see either Dylan Garand or Shesterkin himself today. The $11.5 million man has proven pivotal to the Rangers winning games, and they'll need him to play well if he does get the nod. If it is Garand, the kid could be playing for a spot on the roster, depending on how the market for Quick shakes out.
New York scored 5 times yesterday on Philip Grubauer. They're going to need to continue that tonight against the Blackhawks. Even if the powerplay spearheads the charge, the Rangers must keep getting the puck into the back of the net. Scoring breeds confidence; confidence will translate into good team defense, which means winning games. Just keep scoring for now and let the building blocks fall into place.
Projected Lineups
Chicago Blackhawks
Ilya Mikheyev - Connor Bedard - Philipp Kurashev
Taylor Hall - Ryan Donato - Tyler Bertuzzi
Nick Foligno - Jason Dickinson - Teuvo Teravainen
Pat Maroon - Lukas Reichel - Craig Smith
Alex Vlasic - Connor Murphy
Nolan Allan - Alec Martinez
Wyatt Kaiser - T.J. Brodie
Arvid Soderblom
Drew Commesso
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Reilly Smith
Will Cuylle - Filip Chytil - Kaapo Kakko
Adam Edstrom - Sam Carrick - Jimmy Vesey
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Braden Schneider
Zac Jones - Victor Mancini
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Puck Drop
It's a 7 p.m. puck drop in this original six clash. The Chicago Blackhawks will look to add salt to the wounds of the Rangers, but the Rangers can smack the team from the Windy City back to the doldrums of the NHL. Can the Rangers start to string wins together again and get over that bitter defeat by the Seattle Kraken yesterday afternoon?