Pregame: Rangers Host Thrashers in Dubinsky's Probable Return

The New York Rangers, now below .500 with a 14-15-2 record, will be hosting the seventh place Thrashers at Madison Square Garden tonight to kick off a very busy week of hockey. The Blueshirts have now dropped two straight to the Blackhawks and the Buffalo Sabres, and will be looking to gain desperately needed points in the standings to bring themselves back into the playoff picture. The Thrashers are 6-4-0 in their last ten contests and are coming fresh off of a win this past weekend.

The obvious question heading into tonight will be whether or not center Brandon Dubinsky will make his return to the lineup. Dubinsky has not played since November 7th, when he took a slap shot to the hand against the Calgary Flames. While there has yet to be official confirmation from head coach John Tortorella, or even Dubinsky himself, there is about a 95% chance he will be good to go for tonight. The choice is probably being left up to him at this point, and knowing Brandon and his attitude, he will be playing in the game, so the following lineup is assuming he is in.

Rangers Projected Lineup

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

Redden - Heikkinen
Del Zotto - Girardi
Staal - Rozsival

Lundqvist

Scratches: Aaron Voros, Erik Christensen

Henrik Lundqvist did not participate in the morning skate, but will once again be in net for the Rangers. Tortorella has stated that back-up Chad Johnson will get a start this week, most likely against the Isles, but it will not come tonight. Henrik has looked sharp in his previous three starts, but he is not getting much offensive support, leaving much of the pressure on his shoulders.

For the first time in quite a while, Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal will be split-up with Vinny dropping to the second line, and Gaborik being centered by Dubinsky. Chris Higgins will stay on the wing across from Gabs, being that he has been one of the few offensive players doing much of anything this past week.

Sean Avery will move to the third line with Artem Anisimov and the struggling Ales Kotalik. Not too sure what to expect out of this trio, or shall I say duo since Kotes has been practically invisible. Maybe Avery and Anisimov will work well together, but it is not necessarily how I would have laid things out.

Also, Enver Lisin will be back in the lineup after sitting out the previous four. Lisin has looked over a tremendous amount of video with assistant coach Mike Sullivan, detailing how he should play on both sides of the puck, and how to use his speed to his advantage.

No defensive changes of note.

Thrashers Projected Lineup

Kovalchuk - Antropov - Little
Kozlov - Peverley - Afinogenov
Kane - White - Armstrong
Boulton - Reasoner - Thorburn

Hainsey - Bogosian
Enstrom - Kubina
Valabik - Schubert

Hedberg

With Ilya Kovalchuk, as well as the additions of Maxim Afinogenov, Nik Antropov, and Evander Kane, the Thrashers are no longer a team that you automatically expect a win against. They skate, they compete, and can play the body, as we saw with Zack Bogosian’s hit on Ryan Callahan the last time the two teams clashed at MSG. The effort level will have to be high against Atlanta, but so will the conversion rate. There simply cannot be four, five, six powerplays that the Rangers do not score on. That is unacceptable and a waste of the man advantage. Capitalizing on opportunities has once again become an issue on this team, even with John Tortorella preaching an offensive-minded system.
(Pictures courtesy of AP Photo and Getty Images)