Pregame: Rangers Anxious to Make it Two in a Row against Wings

The New York Rangers will be hosting the Detroit Red Wings after playing in their most satisfying game in over a month last night in Buffalo. The Blueshirts leaped from twelfth place in the East to ninth place where they hold a 14-13-1 record at the moment. The Red Wings are coming off of a tough shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday and are in the same boat as the Rangers, tenth in the West and 3-5-2 in their last ten games.

No changes to New York’s lineup from last night, meaning defenseman Illka Heikkinen and forward Erik Christensen will play in their second game as a Ranger. Each contributed to the 2-1 victory over the Sabres, as Christensen won five of six faceoffs and Heikkinen was a physical force. John Tortorella said he was pleased with Heikkinen’s effort, even though he was caught out of position several times.

Rangers Projected Lineup:

Prospal - Anisimov - Gaborik
Avery - Drury - Callahan
Higgins - Christensen - Kotalik
Lisin - Boyle - Parenteau

Staal - Rozsival
Gilroy - Heikkinen
Del Zotto - Girardi

Lundqvist

Scratches: Aaron Voros, Donald Brashear (undisclosed), Wade Redden (shoulder), Brandon Dubinsky (broken hand)

Henrik Lundqvist will get the second of back to back starts after completing a 36 save night in Buffalo on Saturday. Lundqvist looked much like his stellar self in that game, probably his best since the winning streak back in October. Now we must keep our fingers crossed that fatigue will not be a factor in his game being that he played just a day ago.

As I said in my post about Anisimov earlier, he was great while centering the first line of Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal. Tortorella was more than happy with what he saw out of that line and will keep them together for the time being.

The second and third lines also played a role in the win in Buffalo, which has not been the case in quite a while. Sean Avery skated extremely well, while Drury and Callahan were better offensively than we have seen. Higgins and Kotalik complemented Christensen well on the third trio.

The Rangers defense was solid in front of Henrik Lundqvist for once, and will be looking to make that a constant tonight against the Wings. They plugged the middle, blocked shots, and cleared the zone in a near perfect manner. That is the way Torts needs his blueline performing on a nightly basis.

Red Wings Projected Lineup:

Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom
Bertuzzi - Cleary - Leino
Draper - Helm - Eaves
Miller - Abdelkader - Maltby

Lidstrom - Ericsson
Stuart - Meech
Lebda - Kindl

Howard

The Wings have not looked like the Stanley Cup contending team they have been the last two years. They have struggled and are coming off of a tough loss in which they battled back but fell short. I think the Rangers can take advantage of that if they start strong and play a similar game to last night.
(Images courtesy of AP Photo)