Rangers vs. Devils: Lineups, storylines for long-awaited 1st meeting
The NHL schedule maker probably thought it was a great idea to have all three games between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils this season set for the month of March, assuming a playoff push by each Metropolitan Division rival.
Though it seemed like a great idea, the reality is that the Rangers and Devils meet Saturday at Prudential Center for the first time, five months into a shockingly disappointing season for each team. They will also play March 18 and 31 at Madison Square Garden.
They are the bottom two teams in the Eastern Conference, each with an unsightly minus-26 goal differential. The Rangers (24-29-8) are last in the conference and tied for 29th overall in the NHL. However, they’ve shown signs of life after the Olympic break, picking up six of a possible eight points (2-0-2), and come off an impressive 6-2 whipping of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
The Devils (31-29-2) are winners of three in a row, after losing two straight out of the break. Like, the Rangers, the Devils come off a home-ice win over the Maple Leafs, a 4-3 shootout victory on Wednesday. That leaves them nine points out of the final wild card in the East with 20 games to play, and a host of teams ahead of them.
So, the team across the river is still breathing, even if just barely, making this a compelling contest against the Rangers, whose playoff hopes expired during a miserable month of January.
For the record, the Rangers are 135-102-11 with 27 ties all-time against the Devils. Last season, the Rangers lost three of four games against the Devils, and were shut out twice at Prudential Center. Overall, they were outscored 16-4 in the season series.
3 storylines when Rangers visit Devils
Standing pat
The NHL Trade Deadline came and went Friday without much activity by either the Rangers nor Devils. The Rangers held on to center Vincent Trocheck, who was scratched for roster management purposes Thursday as a prime candidate to be moved with the team in a retool phase. The Rangers had a steep asking price for the 32-year-old and refused to budge off that, with no team meeting the ask.
“It didn’t make any sense to do something just to say we did it, or to do something just because we wrote a letter,” Rangers general manager Chris Drury explained, also referring to the retool pan he publicly announced in mid-January.
So, Trocheck’s expected to play Saturday, though he could be moved in the offseason. The retool is far from over, even though the Rangers acquired a couple more prospects and draft picks in minor deals Friday. They did trade Sam Carrick to the Buffalo Sabres. And former first-round pick Brennan Othmann was shipped to the Calgary Flames.
The Devils also stood pat at the deadline. Though expected to move veteran defenseman Dougie Hamilton, and with rumors swirling around former No. 2 overall pick Simon Nemec, the Devils didn’t make a trade Friday.
Left or right
Braden Schneider played recently on his off (left) side on the second defense pair alongside Will Borgen. But that changed Thursday, when he flipped sides with Borgen, who’s also a right-hand shot. And per coach Mike Sullivan, there’s a clear reason why.
“We think we get a better version of ‘Schneids’ when he’s on the right side,” Sullivan explained Friday. “So, we tried Will there to see how Will would adjust. There’s a lot of subtleties to the position. It’s not as simple as just — I think it’s harder for a defenseman to play his off side if he’s not used to it than it is for a wing to play the off side.”
With Adam Fox back in the lineup, the Rangers want to keep Schneider in a top-four role, and not drop him back down to the third pair. So, right now, the Rangers dress four right-shot defensemen — including Fox on the top pair and Vincent Iorio on the third pair.
Schneider had an assist against the Maple Leafs and was much more involved in moving the puck from the right side. Iorio, it should be noted, logged more than 16 minutes TOI on Thursday, and played his most complete game since the Rangers claimed him off waivers prior to the Olympic break.
Going fourth
Carrick was a fourth-line staple in his two seasons with the Rangers, and his grit, leadership, and PK skills will be missed. Juuso Parssinen replaced him in the middle of the fourth line Thursday, when Carrick was held out of the lineup due to roster management.
Flanked by rookie Jaroslav Chmelar and Adam Edstrom, who returned from a 33-game injury absence, Parssinen’s line logged 6:43 TOI 5v5 and posted an expected goal share of 63.32 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. They outshot and out-chanced the Maple Leafs 3-1 when on the ice together, and Chmelar scored his first NHL goal on a pretty rush and finish.
Small sample size, but a good start. Let’s see if it carries over into the matinee Saturday.
New York Rangers projected lineup
Alexis Lafreniere — Mika Zibanejad — Gabe Perreault
Will Cuylle — Vincent Trocheck — Taylor Raddysh
Tye Kartye — Noah Laba — Conor Sheary
Adam Edstrom — Juuso Parssinen — Jaroslav Chmelar
Vladislav Gavrikov — Adam Fox
Will Borgen — Braden Schneider
Matthew Robertson — Vincent Iorio
Jonathan Quick
Igor Shesterkin
Rangers vs. Devils: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. New Jersey Devils
When: Saturday, March 7 at 3 p.m. ET
Where: Prudential Center
How to watch: ABC
