The 10-4-3 New York Rangers will be looking to bounce back from Saturday's 4-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens when they take on the Florida Panthers tonight in Sunrise. The winning streak was nice and the team has every right to be proud of it, but it means nothing unless the Blueshirts can build on it and continue their winning ways consistently, even after a depressing blow like they suffered in Montreal. That's what they are out to prove tonight against the Cats, but it won't be as easy as it may sound.
Florida currently has two more points in the standings than the Rangers, and have been winners in seven of their last ten games. They are also coming off a win in which they came back from a 0-3 deficit against the Devils, and ended up winning, 4-3. The first line of Kris Versteeg, Stephen Weiss and Tomas Fleischman scored all four goals for the Panthers in that game, and also happen to be the team's top three scorers at the moment. Obviously they will be the trio to watch tonight for the Ranger defense.
Speaking of the Rangers' defense, it is being widely speculated that it may see a change tonight as Anton Stralman is expected to make his debut with the club. Stralman was worked in several different scenarios during practice yesterday, including the powerplay, so it seems as if head coach John Tortorella is just about ready to get him in the rotation. We won't know for sure until about 5:20 when the coach meets with the media, but I'd bet on Anton getting in there tonight.
Stralman brings more speed than both Michael Del Zotto and Jeff Woywitka, so I think it will come down to those two when it's time to decide who will be scratched. I'm thinking Torts will lean towards Woywitka because he normally doesn't prefer to sit the younger guys, but again, this is just speculation on my part.
All together, though, the Rangers need a better effort from the entire team tonight than they had in Montreal over the weekend. What we saw on Saturday was unacceptable for a team that wants to be a top competitor in the Eastern Conference and I've always felt that if you are going to go down, at least go down trying. New York certainly didn't do much trying in Montreal.
The powerplay also needs to bet better, and that's been a major focus in practice as of late. There's no hiding the fact that you will eventually get burned if you continually fail with the man advantage, and the Rangers are learning that the hard way, as usual.
"We had a tough night the other night on our powerplay, the three powerplays we had, along with the rest of our game," Tortorella said. "I don't buy - it's easy to jump on it. … But we're just going to continue working on it and try to find our way. It hasn't scored the way we'd like it to, but there are some good things with it."
I'd like to know just exactly what those good things are.
Tonight's tilt has more importance than what's recognized on the surface. The Rangers' competition really amps up after this game, so it is crucial that things are flowing evenly and the team is on a high note going into what is absolutely the toughest three-game lineup they've had to deal with this season. This is a statement game, and hopefully the Rangers will make it a good one.
Henrik Lundqvist will be back in goal for New York tonight against Jose Theodore for Florida.
New York Rangers Lineup
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