The Rangers return to action Sunday off their 4-2 victory in Columbus that evened their mark at .500. After starting the season 2-6 and 3-7, New York has gone 5-1 in their last six to even their mark at 8-8. Now we want more. There is no time for the Rangers to rest on their laurels with a game Sunday that most of us believe they should win, but since it's on Sunday and we know the old adage in the NFL that on any given Sunday...New York has to take the game to Florida as they have done to other lesser foes of late.
The lineup is relatively static to what the Blueshirts have used lately, with a few minor tweaks. Henrik Lundqvist, who sat on the second half of the back-to-back Thursday, gets back between the pipes. In addition, with Taylor Pyatt out with a concussion following the hit to his head from Fedor Tyutin, Brandon Mashinter is in the lineup. I gave some of my views on Pyatt's hit Friday, I will likely have much more tomorrow.
Lineup:
Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello Hagelin-Richards-Callahan Dorsett-Brassard-Pouliot Mashinter-Boyle-Miller
McDonagh-Girardi Staal-Stralman Moore-Del Zotto
Lundqvist
Larry Brooks had an extensive column yesterday in which he points out the continuing struggles of Michael Del Zotto and how he could be scratched and is clerkly available. What he wrote is not much different that what has been said on the blog and what was written in the comments to the prior one. The problem is obtaining what they perceive as fair value and who replaces him in the lineup.
Brooks wrote: "Del Zotto played just four shifts worth 2:59 in the third period of Thursday’s 4-2 victory in Columbus, including only one turn in the match’s final 12:10....He is 23 and in his fifth NHL season, has grown more and more unstable in his own end and erratic all over the ice. His decision-making is questionable. He has turned the assignment into as much of an adventure as a job, too often skating into trouble and putting the puck into bad ice rather than make quick and safe plays.
Del Zotto’s creativity and his headman tape-to-tape passes just haven’t materialized to great effect, even as Vigneault has publicly challenged his defensemen to generate more offense and get more pucks on net. Del Zotto, who missed one game with the flu and the next as a healthy scratch in October, is fourth on the blue line in shots, trailing John Moore, Ryan McDonagh and Anton Stralman."
This part is the key" "Del Zotto assuredly can be had, but the Rangers would need to receive a defenseman in return who is capable of handling the nearly 19 minutes a night on the right side that No. 4 chews up. They would need to get someone capable of handling more minutes if any of the Blueshirts’ top four were to be struck by injury."
Maybe the shift from the left to the right side hasn't helped but it's a convenient excuse at this point. If Dylan McIlrath is ready, are you comfortable with him as your sixth d-man? Can he fill in the 19 minutes MDZ gets? If one of the big three or Stralman, who behind Mack Truck has been the team's best defenseman, or Moore goes down, can you play Falk or McIlrath or will it be Roman Hamrlik 2.0? That is why I don't want to move MDZ just yet, and definitely not for Hemsky or someone of that ilk. If McIlrath continues to mature or you add another d-man, maybe, but if not, stay the course and hope he rebounds. As pointed out in the blog comments, Aaron Johnson has been superb as the captain in Hartford while Connor Allen who played alright in the preseason, is doing fine down there now. He and Danny Syvret could be darkhorses to get called up if the d-line gets thin, but my concern is can any of them play the 19 minutes that MDZ does?
The good news is that Rick Nash skated for the second straight day on Sunday. Nash, who has missed 14 straight games, including Sunday's, indicated that he has been headache free for three or four days. The headaches have been the main post-concussion symptom he has had, so it's nice to see this seems to have dissipated for now. The Rangers, given the team's history with concussions, Sauer, Staal etc., should and likely will be very cautious with Nash, allowing him to get to the next step only after they are very sure he is asymptomatic. Dominic Moore, who is out with a strained oblique, also skated today and he should return to action way before Nash does.
Looking forward, the Rangers face New Jersey on Tuesday with a shot at some redemption from their 4-0 loss on October 19. However, that game likely was the low point of the season and we might owe NJ a bit of credit for helping our team get their heads out of their proverbial rear-ends. After that is a contact at the Bell Centre, which given how poorly Hank has played there and a game the next night at home against LA, you have to think Cam Talbot could get that start.