The Rangers upcoming game against the Blue Jackets on Saturday lost a lot of its luster with the Capitals 5-0 win Thursday ending Columbus' 16-game win streak. If Columbus had won, they would have been going for an NHL-record, 18-game win streak. Despite that lost drama, the game still has significant import.
Columbus enters the game with a three-point divisional lead on New York with four games in hand. New York comes in off a solid 5-2 rebound victory over Philly following their embarrassment at the hands of Buffalo the night before. The Rangers are 4-1 in their last five and Saturday is their last game until January 13 due to the team's bye-week.
Rick Nash, who has missed seven straight games, is expected to practice today and could play Saturday. My view from the other day hasn't changed: sit Nash and give him five more days to heal. The game no longer has the record drama, and it's possible Nash wanted to get in due to that in addition to facing his old team. I am in no way saying punting the game to give him additional time to heal, but sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war. This is one of those cases.
If Nash doesn't go, the lines should be the same as the other night:
Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello Vesey-Hayes-Grabner Miller-Lindberg-Fast Jensen-Hrivik-Pirri
Defensively, with Marc Staal definitely out, look for the duos to also be the same:
McDonagh-Skjei Holden-Girardi Clendening-Klein
As I said the other day, the D was better but wasn't perfect. Mistakes still were makes and holes evident but the compete level and execution was eons better than Tuesday. Skjei really acquitted himself nicely on the top pairing and has to remain there. Clendening made simple plays in his own zone to create breakout chances while G was quietly more effective than he has been lately. Saturday, against a team on a roll who will be a bit angry and at home, the blueline needs another performance just as good and likely better than Wednesday to win.
World Juniors:
If you didn't watch the last two days of the World Juniors, you missed some unreal hockey. As I tweeted, if you watched these games and still didn't like hockey, you never will. I hated seeing the championship decided via shootout, especially after witnessing the type of hockey that was played to get to that point in each game. I would have preferred a 10-minute, 4-on-4 to try and decide the game and then if needed, have the shootout.
Troy Terry, who the hero in the semi finals shootout, reprised that role, scoring the only goal in the five-round shootout. Tyler Parsons was unreal in a highly pressurized situation, stoning al five shots. The resiliency and ability of the US to tune out a hostile, partisan crowd was remarkable. The Red, White and Blue were down 1-0 after one but scored twice in the second to even the game. After allowing two goals early in the third and seemingly dead to rights, once again they've rallied, scoring twice to send the game to overtime and then the shootout.
For those of us in the New York area, there was a clear local flavor to the US team. Jeremy Bracco is from Freeport, LI, which is one town over from where I live. Charlie McAvoy, the team's best d-man who was the US' version of Thomas Chabot, is from Long Beach while Adam Fox is from Jericho. In addition, Tage Thompson is from Oyster Bay and Patrick Harper's from New Canaan, Ct. A heck of a win and the second gold in five years for the US.
Terry shootout goal:
The hero for @usahockey one more time... @tterry28. #USAWJC #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/HgiFYGnSCQ
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) January 6, 2017
Parsons' final shootout save and the subsequent celebration:
U-S-A! U-S-A! pic.twitter.com/qsKm7d6x48
— Funhouse (@SportsFunhouse) January 6, 2017