The Rangers complete their two-game road dad - attended by the dads - tonight in Nashville. After a solid game in Detroit, the lineup once again will have a slight shuffle because why would we want to see some consistency (sarcasm dripping) Vitali Kravtsov will be scratched due to having the flu, putting his availability for tomorrow's home game against Arizona in doubt. In addition, in a mild surprise, Jaroslav Halak will be between the pipes.
Projected Lines: Kreider - Zib - Vesey Panarin - Trocheck - Goodrow Laf - Chytil - Kakko Blais - Carpenter - Gauthier
Miller-Trouba Lindgren-Fox Hajek-Schneider
Halak Shesterkin
Call the above a hunch. The fourth line looked great the other night, but I expect that one to be tweaked. Leave the first and Kid Lines alone. Dress Ryan Carpenter over Ryan Reaves and move Barclay Goodrow up to the second line. Julien Gauthier played well on the fourth line and keeping him there removes the pressure he might feel to be a scorer, which is when he has had difficulty. As an energy player who can score - as he did the other night - that added pressure is removed. I could be totally wrong, but the above is how I would go.
(update: Ryan Reaves is in on the fourth line with Blais and Goodrow. Julien Gauthier moves up to the second line with Panarin and Trocheck)
The blue line will stay the same. Coach Gerald Gallant has been happy with how Libor Hajek has played, so no change is expected. "He’s played real well. Three of the four games he played great hockey for us and gave us a chance to win every one of them. Obviously the one was a tough game, but the three other games he played great hockey and that is what we expect. He’s a good veteran goalie and he deserved better to be honest with you.…
I am a little surprised that Halak is going and not Igor Shesterkin. I expect Igor tomorrow. But seeing how he was not overworked Thursday and New York heads to the west coast for games starting Thursday, why not give him an extra day before contests start again? Halak was going to play one of the two games, I just thought it would be tomorrow and not tonight.