The Rangers head down to Dallas to face the Stars on Thursday. Henrik Lundqvist, after sitting four games to get his mind and technique right, will be back between the pipes. Following tonight's game, New York plays the Predators in Nashville on Saturday, followed by a home game against New Jersey the next day and a Tuesday contest in Pittsburgh. With the Metro division continuing to tighten, thanks to several hot teams, every game, even just 31 contests into the season, seem to take on additional importance.
All athletes are proud but especially elite ones. But there a substantial amount of fragility in the confidence level as you move up the ladder in terms of talent level for the athlete. That's what makes tonight start for Lundqvist fascinating. You know he has to be burning to excel to show that he is still an elite goaltender and to prove that his benching was unwarranted. But the flip side to that is whether his confidence was shaken by his poor play and then subsequent "benching." That last word is in quotes because while Hank was given time off to find his game, the perception by many, and possibly by Lundqvist himself, is that it was a quasi benching. Knowing what we have seen from Lundqvist in the past and how he rebounded in 2013-14 from a poor stretch, I would be shocked if he didn't have a monster game tonight, helping carry New York to the win and possibly posting a bagel against the Stars.
Rick Nash, who missed the past four games after tweaking his groin in Brooklyn last Tuesday, is expected to play after going through a full practice yesterday. As long as he didn't suffer a setback overnight, look for him to be active. While he was sidelined, along with Matt Puempel (concussion), New York seemed to play what has been referred to as a more buttoned-down style of hockey in front of Antti Raanta, during which they surrendered just three goals in winning three of four.
Causation or correlation? Or was it that the Rangers finally looked in the mirror and realized what they were doing was unsustainable? Part of the change was, as has been pointed out by some, that coach Alain Vigneault had to go with a more traditional top-six and bottom-six forward alignment due to the injuries. Look back at who was deployed on the bottom six and you will see that those forwards fit the model for those lines rather than AV has utilized his personnel this year. With New York starting to get healthy, as Pavel Buchnevich could be back soon and Mika Zibanejad will return in about a month, it will be interesting to see how AV uses his personnel then.
With Nash, who 11 goals, seven assists for 18 points in 27 games, 4-3-7 in the eight games before the injury, back, the line combinations may shift again. He could replace Michael Grabner on the line with Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller, or take Nicklas Jensen’s spot on the unit centered by Brandon Pirri with Jimmy Vesey on one wing or possibly get reunited with Derek Stepan and Chris Kreider. The one line that should remain together is Marek Hrivik-Oscar Lindberg-Jesper Fast as the fourth trio. With Hrivik playing well and helping to create ballast on that line, look for the more offensively minded Puempel to sit. To me, I would go with CK-Step-Nash, Miller-Hayes-Zucc and Grabner-Pirri-Vesey.
One key aspect of Nash's game to watch tonight and over the next few games is his skating. Nash said the following on his first ever groin injury: “I was turning on the backcheck, took one bad stride and heard it pop. After I went through the testing, the doctor called me and said, ‘If you’re going to have this, it’s the best place it could be.’…Š… The term pop and groin are ones you never want to hear together. Plus, a certain amount of concern has to remain that the groin may not fully be 100%, or if it is, will Nash have the confidence to go full out.
Anthony on Full Tilt Rangers sad the following when discussing what to look for with Nash:
A slow start should be a given, even if he scores a goal tomorrow. He hasn’t played in over a week and will need to get back into game shape. His timing and reads may be a bit behind but these should all come to him quickly.What you should be watching for is if he looks timid. Does he push off harder on his skates and stretch that groin muscle to find that explosive speed off the boards? Does he change speeds often to catch a defender flat footed? These are all legit questions and concerns, and they will begin to be answered as soon as his first shift tomorrow.
Last season was a rough one for one Nash, but the big decline occurred after he suffered the bone bruise in his knee. When that happened, Nash's skating was adversely impacted contributing greatly to his issues on the ice. This year, Nash can to camp in improved shape and it showed in his skating. Prior to the groin injury, Nash's legs created offensive opportunities. As Anthony noted, Nash uses his speed for almost everything. His signature move is to blow past the defender along the boards and explode through the middle for a beautiful goal. He also switches gears and catches defenders flat footed out of the corners. If his skating is even slightly impacted adversely, Nash's offense and the ability to create for others will suffer. So watching if Nash has that jump in the neutral or ability to go from low to high and use his legs to hold off or get past the d-man will tell just how healthy he is.