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Game 48: NYR-NYI, Two teams meet for third time in nine days, no Panarin

January 21, 2020, 5:45 PM ET [107 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers conclude their pre-All-Star game part of their schedule tonight at MSG against the Islanders. The match up is the third in nine days between the subway/tunnel rivals, depending on where the game is played, who meet just one more time the rest of the season. Following the game, the Rangers are off until January 31.

To no one’s real surprise, Alexandar Georgiev is between the pipes. His numbers in five career contests against the Islanders are staggering. As noted in the post-game blog following Thursday’s win, “He has also posted a 4-1-0 record, along with a 1.40 GAA, a .955 SV% (128 saves on 134 shots), and 1 SO in five career appearances against the Islanders, and he has allowed two goals or fewer in each of those five appearances.” This season, he is 2-0, having defeated the Islanders 6-2 at MSG last Monday and 3-2 last Thursday.

The lineup tonight should be fairly similar to who payed Sunday. What is unclear is if Pavel Buchnevich will remain on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Buch has struggled to produce and has been under the weather, dealing the flu and its after-effects, the past week. If you go by advanced metrics, Buch is still driving play and generating chances, but ultimately, this is a bottom-line business. As such, we could see Brendan Lemieux, who returned to action Sunday after missing nine games with a fractured hand, on the top line with Buch skating with Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko.

(Update: 6:40pm - no Artemi Panarin in lineup, as he is out due to an upper-body injury. I wonder if that also takes him out of the All-Star game? Brendan lemiuex on top line, Michael Haley on fourth line in his place.)



One surprising note was that the AHL announced replacements today for their All-Star Game lineup and in that press release, they noted that Igor Shesterkin will miss the game. I think all of us expected Shesterkin to be sent back to Hartford to get work while New York is off and play in the game. Maybe the Rangers were worries about an injury and the possibility still exists he will get sent back down, but today’s announcement certainly puts that in doubt. Vinni Lettieri was named as a replacement fill-in, joining Joey Keane as representing the Wolf Pack.



Joe Haggerty stated today that Chris Kreider is Boston’s #1 target, if/when New York decides to sell. CK20 will garner lots of interest before February 24 with Colorado mentioned prominently as having interest, which stretches back to last year’s draft. New York and Boston hooked up on the Nick Holden and Rick Nash deals with a #1 pick and Ryan Lindgren coming back for Nash. Use that return as a baseline and I ask you, which prospect would you want in addition to a first-rounder, if available, to move Kreider to the Bruins?

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