Pregame: Rangers Look for Consistancy Against Panthers

With the recent win-loss cycle of the New York Rangers, head coach John Tortorella has expressed his desire for consistancy from his team, something the Blueshirts have not had since their seven-game winning streak was terminated by the Sharks. They will look to start that tonight against the 13th place Florida Panthers. Although the Panthers may be considered cellar dwellers in the Eastern Conference, the Cats have been victorious in their last two contests and are 7-2-1 in the previous ten. The Rangers, who have now dropped to ninth in the East, are 4-6-0 in their last ten and have obviously been struggling to win as of late.

Ales Kotalik will be playing up on the first line with Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal tonight, while Enver Lisin will move down to the fourth line and Donald Brashear to the third. Like I said, there is no justifying explanation of this move by John Tortorella. Brashear has been one of the least effective players on this team and now he gets a promotion to a higher line? It just does not seem to make sense to me, and quite honestly, I feel that Brashear shouldn't even be playing against teams like the Panthers being that they are not physical.

Now for the best part; The line of Brashear, Higgins, and Callahan is supposedly going to be out on the ice to take the opening faceoff. I do not know if this is entirely true, but if it is, Donald will be welcomed with a crowd of boos. Yea, so much for him winning over the crowd by now like Tortorella said he would have.

Rangers Projected Lineup

Kotalik - Prospal - Gaborik
Avery - Anisimov - Parenteau
Brashear - Higgins - Callahan
Lisin - Boyle - Voros

Staal - Girardi
Redden - Gilroy
Del Zotto - Rozsival

Lundqvist

Scratch(es): Chris Drury (concussion, but did skate in practice today), Brandon Dubinsky (broken hand)

Henrik Lundqvist will get his fourth consecutive start since returning from a lower body injury over a week ago. Overall, Henrik has been playing well during this losing stretch besides the few softer goals he has allowed. The all-star netminder needs more support from his defense and that has been hard to come by lately.

There is no doubt that the Rangers have struggled to score goals in recent games. A big part in that, I believe, is lack of puck control, especially on the powerplay. It seems like every time the Blueshirts attempt to get a forecheck going they are quickly stopped by the opponent and the play is suddenly going the opposite way. Without the puck, you cannot score, it is as simple as that.

In addition the lack of puck control, the secondary offense beyond Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik has not been able to bury their chances. This starts with Ryan Callahan and Christopher Higgins, two players who have a combined five goals on the season. That is pathetic and if they do not get going anytime soon, then this team is going to continue to to have offensive struggles with only Gaborik putting pucks in the net.

This is why the promotion of Brashear is so out there. Brash cannot skate, he cannot stick handle, and most of all, he cannot score. So why exactly would you place him on the third line when your team is not scoring? He surely is not going to contribute anything and will probably just end up taking a dumb penalty.

I do feel that Kotalik might fit on the first line, though. Kotes has not done much at even strength, but has been great on the powerplay. The reason for this is because Ales needs a set-up man. Not all players can "create" their own goals like Marian Gaborik does. Instead, they need someone who could feed them the puck for the shot. Kotalik will have both Prospal and Gaborik to do exactly that for him.

Panthers Projected Lineup:

Frolik - Weiss - Horton
Stillman - Reinprecht - Dvorak
Campbell - Kreps - Olesz
McArdle - Moore - Oreskovich

McCabe - Ballard
Leopold - Seidenberg
Allen - Kulikov

Vokoun

I would assume that Tomas Vokoun will be in net for the Panthers, as back-up goaltender Scott Clemmensen played in a game last night against the Detroit Red Wings. The Panthers are young, fast, and skilled up front. However, they will be without star forward David Booth, who is out with an injury. The first line of Frolik, Weiss, and Horton will be one that will cause the Blueshirts the most problems with their skill and abilities. If the Rangers can shut them down, they can pretty much shut the entire team down. But as I said, the Blueshirts' defense has been dismal so I do not count on it.

As a side note, I will be at the Garden for tilt game so I plan on the postgame analysis being up a bit later than usual. I will be sure to have it up around the same time it was Tuesday night after the Caps game. Your cooperation is appreciated. Pregame updates available at www.twitter.com/rangerstribune.

(Images courtesy of AP Photo)