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The New York Rangers continue their four-game road trip with a Thursday night trip to Colorado.
New York is coming what can best be called a shaky 5-4 win over Toronto on Tuesday. Colorado comes in 4-4-2 in their last 10 overall and 13-11-1 overall at the Pepsi Center. However , they are 4-1-0 in their last five, 6-2-0 in their last eight and 8-3-1 in their last 12 home games as they fight for a playoff spot out West, where they sit eight points out of eighth.
For the Rangers, the lineup and line combinations are basically the same as Tuesday night. The only change, at least in the lineup, is that Matt Hunwick gets to face his old team, replacing John Moore. In addition, Cam Talbot will make his fifth straight start.
Nash-Brassard-Zucc Kreider-Stepan-MSL Hagelin-Hayes-Miller Glass-D. Moore-Stempniak
McDonagh-Girardi Staal-Klein Hunwick-Boyle
The big tweak will be to the power play groupings. The PP overall is 30-for-153 (19.65), 10th in the league, but just 4-for-18 since the break while looking very poor and failing to generate any sustained pressure. Alain Vigneault rightly rewarded Mats Zuccarello for his fine recent play, shifting him to the top line alongside his new linemates. In addition, the points not have Ryan McDonagh (LH shot) and Derek Stepan (RH shot) at the points. The second group has Chris Kreider-Kevin Hayes-Marty St. Louis with Dan Boyle and Dan Girardi now at the points.
I still don’t get playing Girardi on the PP, as I would like to see Klein, who consistently gets the puck on net, there. In addition, the top trio likely still has Nash down low rather than the half-boards, but if the puck and player movement is better, I can live with it.
Much of the discussion the past day in the media is the building chemistry between Carl Hagelin and Hayes. H-squared have been paired together a good portion of the season with a revolving door at right wing that now is being filled by J.T. Miller. Either Miller or Fast work well there. Miller as he is a bit more offensive minded, so he brings a different dynamic to the trio, and Fast, due to his willingness to do the dirty work and be defensively responsible. For all the talk of Hagelin’s inability to score, he still has 11 goals, good for fifth on the team. He never will have the hands to be a big scorer, but he should net 18-22 annually. At $2.25 million this year, it will be interesting to see how general manager Glen Sather tries to squeeze him as a RFA.
Hayes has been a godsend, because without him, the third line would have been a tire fire. Granted, he needs work on faceoffs, but you can see the offensive talent he has, and that coupled with his size is a hard combination to find. I have been trying to figure out a good acronym for the line, but been drawing a blank, so if you any good ideas, let me know.
Today is the 35th anniversary of Team USA’ s opening game in their run to the Gold. Bill Baker scored with 27 seconds, beating Pelle Lindbergh, to give the US a 2-2 tie. Pat Leonard is posting the old Daily News columns, here is the link: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/u-s-ties-27-baker-goal-buoys-medal-chances-2-2-article-1.2023427
Last, with the news as to the reported cost of Mike Santorelli, Sather needs to be aggressive and go get him. As I tweeted earlier, not only does he fill several needs, you also hurt a division rival, as Pitt is reportedly in on him as well. Less than three weeks till the deadline. Go get someone, as even when Fast returns, there is a forward who shall remain nameless than can easily and should be replaced.