The Rangers return to action Wednesday against the Capitals. In essence, the Blueshirts are playing out the string. With the First Wild Card locked up, as the well as the opponent - Montreal - the goals are to stay healthy, build some momentum heading into the postseason and have Henrik Lundqvist continue to find his form. Other than those three, not much is really at stake as a team, though some players could be skating for their post season lives.
One line that has been red hot is the Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello trio. Six points Sunday versus Philly, continuing their recent stretch of fine play. Stepan, for all his warts, has a point in five of the last six games and 10 in 12, giving him 54 on the year. CK20 notched his 28th Sunday while Zucc had four assists to give him 44 on the season along with 15 goals. When discussing his linemates, Stepan said:." I think that if you look at our line, we try to find ice that’s available and get the puck into 36’s [Zuccarello’s] hands. And the horse has to be the horse; Kreids has to get up and go and get on those pucks.’’
Wednesday, Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Jesper Fast will all miss the game with what's being called "bumps and bruises." In what should come as no shock, none of the injuries will prevent them for being ready for the start of the playoffs, which is expected to begin a week from tomorrow. McDonagh likely was injured March 17 against Florida and played through the discomfort before getting taken out of the lineup a few days ago. Rest him, since once the playoff starts, he likely will log 22-25 minutes nightly.
With those three forwards out, the lines are:
Pavel Buchnevich-Stepan-Kreider Brandon Pirri-Mika Zibanejad-Jimmy Vesey. Michael Grabner-Kevin Hayes-J.T. Miller Matt Puempel-Oscar Lindberg-Tanner Glass.
Buch gets another kick at the can, same with Pirri. I would be shocked if Pirri or Puempel gets into a playoff game, barring injury. The key question will be does Buch or Vesey play? I do expect a fourth line of Glass-Lindberg-Fast, especially given how Montreal has bulked up their fourth line. We know Kreider-Stepan-Zucc is one line. Zib and Nash are two-thirds of one, quite possibly with Miller. That leaves Hayes and likely Grabner as two-thirds of the third line, so if Glass is in, who sits? Granted, AV could move Grabner down, sit Glass and go with Buch-Hayes-Vesey as the third line.
With Montreal the opponent in the first round, expect to see this video on a loop for the next week and as long as the series lasts:
That was then, this is now. This season Montreal was 3-0-0 against the Rangers, outscoring them 12-7 in those games. On 1/14/17, New York had a 3-2 lead going into the third period before surrendering three goals in 62 seconds en route to a 5-4 loss. February 20, the Rangers lost 3-2 in a shootout while on March 4, they fell 4-1 at home. The Bell Centre is still a House of Horrors for Lundqvist, which will be a key point of interest during the series.
Everyone said this was the path of least resistance. Avoid the nightmare that is the Metro and go through the Atlantic to the playoffs. Time will tell. More analysis to come, but Montreal has the size following several deadline day acquistions and some of the speed to blunt what New York does well, which is speed through the neutral zone and chances off the forecheck. The Canadiens have an elite blueliner in Shea Weber and if not an edge, then an equal in net in Carey Price compared to Lundqvist. New York will need to take advantage of Montreal's lack of speed on the fourth line, stay out of the box as much as possible to negate the Weber howitzer from the point and avoid own zone turnovers. Plus, exorcise the Bell Centre demons as they did in 2014.