Match Overview
Tonight’s game will feature your New Jersey Devils, who currently own a 4-3-2 record, which puts them seventh in the East Division. And the New York Rangers, who own a 4-6-3 record, which puts them sixth in the East Division. The game is slated to begin at 7:00 PM ET at Madison Square Garden. You can watch it locally on MSG-plus and out-of-market on NHL TV.
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are finally returning to action for the first time since January 31st. The team was ravaged by the COVID-19 virus as confirmed by Miles Wood who explained how quickly the virus spread through the team. With only a few players left on the COVID list, the Devils will be pretty close to full strength.
As has been the theme with head coach Lindy Ruff, the lineup and goalie decision will not be known until closer to game time. It is known that Nikita Gusev, Nico Hischier, Dmitry Kulikov, and Travis Zajac will be out.
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers have had a bizarre start to the season. The team’s record is right where many would expect, but their style of play is not. The Rangers have struggled mightily to score the puck, ranking 27th in goals for per game and 28th on the power play. Surprisingly, New York has been a solid defensive team thanks in large part to young Russian goalie Igor Shesterkin. The Rangers goals against per game of 2.54 ranks seventh in the league, their penalty kill eighth. This just the complete opposite of the type of team they were last year.
It is expected that Igor Shesterkin will get the start in between the pipes. He has compiled a terrific .922 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.16. The big news for the Rangers is they will be without star forward Artemi Panarin and rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller.
Projected Devils Lines
Check back to our social media pages closer to puck drop for updates.
Projected Rangers Lines
Forwards:
- Kreider/Zibanejad/Blackwell
- Lafreniere/Strome/Kakko
- Di Giuseppe/Howden/Buchnevich
- Lemiux/Rooney/Gauthier
Defense:
- Lindgren/Fox
- Smith/Trouba
- Hajek/Bitetto
Goalies:
- Shesterkin (3-4-1, .922 Sv%, 2.16 GAA)
- Georgiev
What/Who to Watch
- The largest storyline in this one is how the Devils will look overall after a long layoff battling COVID-19. Will it have any effect on their conditioning? Will players get winded quicker? Is Head Coach Lindy Ruff going to shorten shifts? These are all questions that are worth asking given the fact many of the Devils players had the virus.
- Like New Jersey, the New York Rangers are going to be without several key contributors. These consist of leading scorer Artemi Panarin (15 points in 12 games), rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller (19:34 TOI), Filip Chytil (three points five games), and Brendan Smith (game-time decision). This leaves the Rangers lineup in shambles, having to enter several “non-NHLers.” Examples of this are Colin Blackwell on line one, Anthony Bitetto on defense, and overall weak depth down the middle. This is a perfect game for the New Jersey Devils to get their feet wet. They’ll have to beat the strong Igor Shesterkin, but this is an extremely winnable game.
- The New York Rangers have a pair of highly touted prospects in their top-six. These being Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko. Each are having extremely disappointing starts to the season. Lafreniere only has one point in 13 games and Kakko has three points in 12 games. Now, Kakko is especially probably experiencing some bad luck as his underlying numbers are not awful—and a big improvement from last year. However, Lafreniere has certainly struggled. With Dylan Strome as their center, let’s hope the duo does not figure it out tonight.