Rangers Host Capitals, Sanguinetti Sent to Hartford

The Rangers had two days to practice after their 4-2 victory over the Red Wings on Monday Night, and tonight will host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the first game of a home-and-home set which will conclude the pre-season. On Monday, Marian Gaborik made his Ranger debut, tonight, however, we will see a familiar face in Brandon Dubinsky make his pre-season debut. Other notable changes in the lineup are Defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti being sent down to the Hartford Wolf Pack, and Sean Avery who will miss his second consecutive game thanks to a sprained knee.

Focusing on Sanguinetti for a bit, if you read my article on Tuesday, you would have seen that I chose Bobby Sanguinetti to be the next cut on defense for the Rangers. Obviously Torts had similar feelings, as just an hour ago, the prospect defenseman was sent back down to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL. As I have previously mentioned, Sangs was strong for the Rangers while playing up in the pre-season, but he did not stand out as much as Gilroy and Del Zotto have. Sanguinetti will get his turn to become a Blueshirt, but just not to start this season. Another year of development in the AHL will do him good, and Bobby will come back even more experienced than he was this September.

The following is the lineup that was present in practice today, but it will be altered come gametime now that Sangs has been sent down. Lineup courtesy of Newsday:

Grachev-Drury-Kotalik
Lisin-Dubinsky-Callahan
Higgins-Prospal-Gaborik
Voros-Anisimov-Brashear
Boyle

Redden-Rozsival
Del Zotto-Girardi
Gilroy-Semenov
Staal-Sanguinetti

Lundqvist
Valiquette

Henrik Lundqvist is expected to be in net for the Rangers for the entire game tonight, which will be the first occurrence of the pre-season. Lately, the goaltenders have been switching midway through the second, but as the pre-season winds down, Hank will play the two remaining games in their entirety.

As far as the defense goes, I am not positive as to what it will look like for tonight's contest, but it is pretty clear that Matt Gilroy and Bobby Sanguinetti will make the team out of camp, just as we have wished, with 6-7 veteran Alexei Semenov being the team's seventh defenseman. From what I have read, it seems as if Dan Girardi and Marc Staal will be split up to begin the season, as each will be paired with a rookie. We have seen Staal with Gilroy and Girardi with Del Zotto, so that is what I would expect to see in the future, and possibly tonight.

On offense, tonight's game will be one of the last to make an impression on head coach John Tortorella, especially for the rookies, such as Anisimov and Grachev. Come Sunday, I would expect Tortorella and company to have most of their final cuts completed, so that means that we will most likely see another player cut after this game. I would put my money on Evgeny Grachev being sent down to Hartford, even though he has impressed throughout the pre-season. In my opinion, Artem Anisimov should start the year with the Rangers, leaving one cut to be made, and that cut, in my mind, should be Aaron Voros.

Now to focus on the players who are pretty much locked up for the upcoming season, starting with Brandon Dubinsky. Under a week ago, Brandon signed a two year deal with the Rangers, after holding out on them for about two weeks of training camp. With three days of practice and work under his belt, Dubi will take the ice tonight against the Caps, which is ironic, because the last time we saw Brandon in a Ranger jersey was in April, also against the Capitals. Despite such the long span of not playing in a game, I expect no rust on Dubinsky skates, being that he has done a lot preparation wise over the summer. It is probable that Dubinksy will be tried with many wingers tonight, including Marian Gaborik.

Marian Gaborik will be playing in his second game as a Ranger tonight, after recording an assist and five shots on goal Monday Night against Detroit. Gaborik was steam-rolled by Tomas Holmstrom ten seconds into the game, but Gabs bounced right back up with no evident struggle or pain, which was a relieving sign. Hopefully we can see Gabs find the back of the net with his lightning quick release.

One other thing that I wanted to point out is that new acquisitions Ales Kotalik and Chris Higgins, more so Higgins, have not been a factor in recent games. It could just be the "veteran" mentality which seems to be applied in the pre-season, but if this continues tonight and on Sunday, it will definitely cause me some worry. Ales and Chris are key components of this team, specifically on the special teams, so the Rangers will need them producing this year, and I have not seen many indications that they plan on doing that, but again, it is still only pre-season, and I realize that I am over-reacting a bit here.

Dan Girardi was very physical in the last game so I am looking forward to seeing more of that tonight. With Staal absent against Detroit, I felt that Girardi stepped up his game and proved to be a leader on the ice on Monday, which is a trait that is highly valued in a player. In my eyes, he is the perfect partner for Mike Del Zotto, mainly because Del Zotto loves to join in on the offense while Girardi is more of a defensive defensemen. This gives Del Zotto some assurance that Girardi will always be back if he is caught up ice.

The Capitals lineup has not been released just yet, but when, or if it does, I will update this post, including tonight's roster right in the location of where you are reading this paragraph.

As always, be sure to check back after the game for my postgame analysis.......

(Image courtesy of AP Photo)