The Rangers look to get back on the win column this afternoon north of the border against the Senators. This is the second of three matchups between the two squads. New York defeated Ottawa 3-2 on October 23 and the two squads next play on April 20. The Blueshirts come in off a 3-2 shootout loss to the Red Wings on Thursday while the Senators fell by the same score in overtime yesterday against Boston.
The Rangers lineup is expected to be the same personnel upfront as faced the Red Wings. If any changes do occur, they will be to the blue line and between the pipes. Patrik Nemeth, who is on IR, practiced opposite Braden Schneider yesterday and it's possible that is the duo today, relegating Zac Jones to the press box.
This is not a guarantee or set in stone, and personally, I would rather see Jones-Scheider again, but the team may want to give Nemeth game action in the NHL. If the desire is to play him, given the length of time he has been out, have him play a few games in Hartford, when they are at home, on a "conditioning" stint to get his wind back.
The other potential change is between the pipes, where Alexander Georgiev could get the nod. As i wrote Friday, this move would not shock me at all, as Georgiev has not seen much work, the team is cognizant of not overworking Igor Shesterkin - even though there was a two-week break - and with a game upcoming against Washington on Thursday, this might be a good place to give him a game. The counter argument is New York has back-to-back games next weekend versus Pittsburgh and Vancouver, so Georgiev might go versus the Canucks. If Igor is net today, the three days before Thursday's game and back-to-back next weekend might be the reason why.
Kreider - Zib - Lafreniere Panarin - Strome - Goodrow Hunt - Chytil - Gauthier McKegg - Rooney - Reaves
Lindgren - Fox Miller - Trouba Nemeth - Schneider
Georgiev Shesterkin
(Barron, Hajek and Jones as the extras)
The game preview in today's NY Post highlighted the team's issue with slow starts. We have discussed this issue a lot this year and in years past. As seen in the blurb below, those slow starts have not been a major precluding factor for success. But expecting to overcome them almost every game is a dangerous pattern, especially down the stretch and in the playoffs. This has been an age-old problem and one several coaches have tried to remediate, with little success. Here is hoping coach Gerard Gallant figures out a way to kickstart the team early - maybe change up the warm up routine or early game line deployment - resoling the problem.
The Rangers have been outshot in the first period in eight of their last 10 games. Surprisingly, they lost the two games in which they had the shot advantage after 20 minutes — against the Wild and Blue Jackets. In the other eight games, the Rangers went 6-2.The Rangers’ goal differential by period this season isn’t actually that glaring. They have a plus-1 differential in first periods, having scored 35 goals and given up 34. With 49 second-period tallies and 47 against, the Rangers are plus-2 in the middle frame this season.
That changes in the third period. They have given up the third-fewest goals in the third period (40), while also owning a telling plus-20 goal differential, with 60 scores in final frames.