The Rangers and Canucks meet tonight at MSG. Vancouver comes in off an 2-1 shootout win Sunday over the Islanders in which Ryan Miller basically stood on his head to carry the Canucks to a victory. The Rangers fell 5-2 to Washington on Sunday in a game marked by mistake after mistake; a continuation of what has existed the past six weeks.
We keep waiting for the mistakes to be cleaned up, yet they either keep repeating or getting worse. The latest mantra is preventing one mistake on a play to become two, three or four, as we saw in JT Miller's goal Sunday and something I mentioned last blog. In theory, that sounds great because mistakes will happen. In practice, stop me if you have heard this refrain before because I have. Explain to me how this will be fixed because saying that it needs to be has been the refrain for a while, yet lo and behold, we talk about the same thing the next day and game.
I am not yet ready to abandon ship and say blow it up. That said, I have to admit it's getting close. But as we have seen in the past, get hot late and as long as you are in the playoffs, anything can happen. Granted, we would much rather be talking like we did last year and/or not seeing the mistakes repeatedly burn this team. But, despite how poor they look, the doom and gloom that hangs over this team on almost each shift, the pride and effort we that existed in the past not on display and unlikelihood that a 180-degree shift could happen, the past means that I can't just throw it into reverse and say blow it up. Not yet.
For NY, Derick Brassard is likely out with the flu while Henrik Sedin is sidelined with a shoulder injury. As such, Kevin Hayes, who as recently as about two weeks ago was watching from the press box, with replace Brassard between Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash. If Hayes ever wanted a prime chance to show he should remain in the lineup and produce as he did year ago, this surely is it. Jared McCann replaces Henrik Sedin between his brother Daniel and Jannik Hansen on the newly constituted first line for the Canucks. Bo Horvat, who has played well recently, will have more scoring responsibility with Henrik out and be counted on to help jumpstart Radim Vrbata, who could be a Rangers trade deadline target.
With Brassard out, Jayson Megna, a scratch over the weekend, gets back in on the fourth line with Dominic Moore and Tanner Glass. Viktor Stalberg, Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fast make up an All-Swedish trio while Chris Kreider, with three goals in two games, stays on the left side of Derek Stepan and Miller. That newly, reconstituted line was fairly good in both games over the weekend, save for the really egregious turnover by Miller against Washington.
On defense, Kevin Klein, who missed the Capitals game Sunday with a bruised thumb, is a game-time decision but did practice practiced on a duo with Ryan McDonagh in the AM. If he is unable to go, Dylan McIlrath, who filled in for Klein on Sunday, will be back in and may be paired with McDonagh. Marc Staal will skate with Dan Boyle while Dan Girardi should be alongside Keith Yandle, a pairing that had coverage and recovery issues Sunday.
It's reunion up night at MSG at Pat Leonard pointed out. Brandon Prust, Derek Dorsett, and Emerson Etem, who was traded on January 8, all with suit up for the Canucks. There won't be any highlight videos on the board for the trio, though many of us still have find feelings for Dorsett and to an extent Prust, other than his unpenalized cross-check to Stepan's jaw in the ECF two years ago.
The Rangers are in need of a win along with a strong performance. If you hold like Larry Brooks, the team is dead in the water and needs to be put out of its misery. I would say we are on our 19th Nervous Breakdown with the Rangers. But since they started 16-3-2 and are 8-13-5 subsequent to that, 19 isn't even large enough. Until they string together several good performances and wins in a row, the fanbase will be on edge and ready to snap at any poor effort and result.