Tonight will mark the second meeting of the season between the New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets, as the Blueshirts took the first, 2-1, in Winnipeg back in October. New York is playing much better hockey now than they were on October 24, though, having won their last three games, all at Madison Square Garden, and will look to capture their fourth tonight. Meanwhile, the Jets have fallen to thirteenth place in the Eastern Conference with a 5-6-2 record on the year.
The Jets are in the midst of a lengthy road trip while the Rangers played in a spirited contest less than 24 hours ago, so fatigue may become a factor for either team, or both, at any time. But this should be a game that the Blueshirts are anxious to win as it will be the last of their six-game homestand, in which they've won three out of five so far. Four out of six looks much better than three out of six, and will obviously give them a better foundation to build off of since they will be playing five road games between Wednesday and the end of the month.
This won't be a walk in the park, however, because the Jets did challenge the Rangers and goaltender Marty Biron quite a bit the last time these two met, and they are expected to get forward Nik Antropov back in the lineup tonight as he missed a few games due to injury. The Jets may be towards the bottom of the standings in the East, but they are only three points behind the Rangers, so placement has no relevance in this match-up.
The Rangers need to continue to play the way they have over the past three or four games, which means consistent offensive pressure and sound defense. New York's biggest strength throughout their winning streak has been their forecheck and having the ability to pin their opponents in their own zone. They did this in the first period of last night's 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens, but only for the first period. They tailed off in the second and third, which is something they may have gotten away with because the Habs had played the night before. They don't want to do that again.
The Dubinsky-Richards-Callahan line continues to excel in all areas of the ice and has been a tremendous part of the Rangers' recent success. I doubted the abilities of this trio when they were first put together as I didn't see Richards potentially fitting in with those two. However, he's proven that he fits just well and has played his best hockey when skating with them, scoring his fourth goal of the season last night against Montreal.
And Marian Gaborik continues to go for the Blueshirts, picking up another assist in Saturday's win. Gabby has been the best player for the Rangers offensively this season, and those words are straight out of the mouth of head coach John Tortorella. He's definitely a player the team will be counting on in the second half of a back-to-back.
And as I said, the defense has been excellent. From top-to-bottom, seriously, everyone has been playing well. Steve Eminger, when on the ice last night, played very well - probably his best game of the season so far. The same could be said of Michael Del Zotto, who continues to improve in each passing game. The Rangers' blue-line is starting to get used to Marc Staal not being there to lead the way.
There's been no word on who will get the start in tonight's game as of yet, but I'm thinking Marty Biron. That's just a guess, though.
New York Rangers Lineup
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