New York Rangers visit Canucks, aim for fourth consecutive road victory
On Saturday night, the New York Rangers will look to keep their win streak alive as they take on the Vancouver Canucks. This is the fourth game of the Blueshirts’ five game road trip. Thus far they are a perfect 3-0-0, and have earned themselves an overall record of 5-2-0 on the season.
The Rangers won both matchups against Vancouver last season. In their last five meetings, they are 2-2-1. Overall, New York continues to be a successful team road, a trend that started during the 2021-22 campaign. They hold a 4-1-0 record and their eight road points are tied for first in the NHL.
Vancouver comes into tonight’s matchup, having beaten the St. Louis Blues on Friday and will look to extend their three game winning streak.
For the Rangers, the goal is to remain consistent with the play they’ve exhibited over the last three games. Giving up only two goals over that time period, the Rangers have been solid defensively. They will aim to extend their winning streak to four games when the puck drops at Rodgers Arena.
Here’s tonight’s game and broadcast info:
New York Rangers (5-2-0) vs Vancouver Canucks (5-2-0)
Date/Time: October 28, 2023 @ 10:00 PM ET
Arena: Rodgers Arena
TV: MSG, MSG 2
Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM
Note: Subject to change, updated for each game
New York Rangers projected lineup
The Rangers lineup that played Thursday is projected for tonight’s game versus Vancouver. Igor Shesterkin is expected to start.
Kreider – Zibanejad – Kakko
Panarin – Chytil – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Trocheck – Wheeler
Goodrow – Bonino – Vesey
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Gustafsson – Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Note: The Rangers will have a pre-game skate scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET at Rogers Arena. Check back for updates.
New York Rangers vs Vancouver Canucks
The longest road trip of the season has been picture perfect through three games. The Rangers have outscored their opponents 10-2 over the course of the trip and have played their best hockey to this point. They have excelled in both offense and defense, and have been backed up by stellar goaltending from Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick.
Another bright spot for the Rangers has been Alexis Lafreniere. He now has a three game goal scoring streak. The goal streak is the longest of Lafreniere’s career. His four goals are good enough for second on the team, behind Chris Kreider who has five. Against the Oilers, he skated with confidence when he had the puck, and worked to get into scoring areas without it. His game has really come on over the last several contests playing alongside Artemi Panarin and Filip Chytil.
This has been one of the Rangers’ best lines to start the year.
“When (Panarin-Chytil-Lafreniere) are moving, they’re really dangerous. I think they read off of each other well,” Peter Laviolette explained. “I think there’s a good mix of different types of players in there. They were on point tonight. They had a really strong game.”
Vancouver enters tonight’s contest with talent throughout their lineup. Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Brock Boeser lead the team in points, while the newly named captain Quinn Hughes has been backstopping the team on the blueline. The team opened their season with a routing of the Edmonton Oilers by a score of 8-1. They have shown bursts of offense at times and the Rangers will need to rely on their steady defense in order to keep Vancouver at bay.
The Rangers will probably deploy the same lineup without any changes. The lines have seemed to work well to start the year, and especially during this road trip. The third line of Will Cuylle, Vincent Trocheck, and Blake Wheeler had an especially strong performance against the Oilers. Laviolette has been consistent thus far, and there is no reason to change what is working.
In goal for the Rangers will be Igor Shesterkin, who carried a 17-4-4 record on the road last season. He should be well rested after getting the night off against Edmonton.
The Canucks have split time between Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith in goal to start their season. With Demko getting the nod against St. Louis last night, it is safe to say the Rangers will likely face DeSmith.
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