New York Rangers host the Winnipeg Jets as the difficult schedule keeps rolling
By Conor Power
Injuries have hampered the New York Rangers season to this point. Ryan Lindgren is the latest member of the roster to be out week-to-week, joining Jacob Trouba in that timeframe. Those two join Filip Chytil and Blake Wheeler who are both done for at least the remainder of the regular season. It's been a difficult task for the Rangers to stay healthy this year, so this could be a difficult spell for the organization.
For tonight, we're going to see the makeshift defense the blueshirts throw together. With two missing pieces on the backend, we're going to get our first look at Chad Ruhwedel. This is suddenly a very important pickup by Drury, because he was the eighth defenseman on this roster until today. He's going to be given a chance to show why he was picked up from the Pittsburgh Penguins eleven days ago.
In other news, Matt Rempe is eligible to return from his suspension tonight. In morning skate, he was on his own making it unlikely that we see the 6'8 Canadian return tonight. Jonny Brodzinski slotted back into the lineup and played well in the absence of the big man. As New York continue to tinker with the bottom six, we will see what comes of the attempts to find the right combination.
Projected Lineups
Winnipeg Jets
Kyle Connor - Mark Scheifele - Alex Iafallo
Nikolaj Ehlers - Sean Monahan - Tyler Toffoli
Nino Niederreiter - Adam Lowry - Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron - David Gustafsson - Vladislav Namestnikov
Josh Morrissey - Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillion - Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg - Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck - Laurent Brossoit
New York Rangers
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Jack Roslovic
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Jonny Brodzinski - Alex Wennberg - Kaapo Kakko
Will Cuylle - Barclay Goodrow - Jimmy Vesey
K'Andre Miller - Braden Schneider
Erik Gustafsson - Adam Fox
Zac Jones - Chad Ruhwedel
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Puck Drop
Your Metropolitan Division leaders will be taking on a team desperate for the two points tonight. Winnipeg come into the game leading the Central Division on points percentage, tied on points with both the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars. This is a team that is going to show extra determination and if the Rangers are not able to raise the same competitiveness, it could be a long night.