Rangers vs. Stars: Lineups, storylines seeking rebound against elite foe
Coming off one of their least inspired efforts of the season, and in the wake of unwelcome injury news for one of their star players, the New York Rangers look to regroup Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, when they host the Dallas Stars.
Outside of goalie Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers (13-12-1) were mostly uncompetitive — admittedly so, too — in a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon. Compounding the head-scratching defeat was losing top defenseman Adam Fox for at least 10 games, after he landed on LTIR with an upper-body injury.
Needless to say, that made for a pretty brutal 1-2 punch the Rangers received this past weekend. And to think, they were riding high, tying their season-high three-game winning streak, heading into that Lightning game.
So, what level of resiliency do these Rangers have, needing to bounce back against one of the better teams in the NHL on Tuesday night?
“We just got to find a way to win at home, pretty much,” defenseman Will Borgen said Monday after practice. “We laid an egg last game and it wasn’t good. It’s time to respond.”
The streaky Rangers won three in a row three times this season. However, they’ve also failed to maintain any semblance of consistency, since they had a four-game losing streak and a pair of three-game skids (0-2-1). And, of course, there’s that wide disparity between their road record (11-4-1) and home-ice results (2-8-1).
On Tuesday, the Rangers face one of the most consistent teams year-over-year recently in the NHL. The Stars (17-5-4) are winners of four straight, and have points in six straight games (5-0-1). Since Nov. 8, the Stars are 10-1-1.
And despite coaching changes and personnel changes, the Stars made the Stanley Cup Playoffs six times in the past seven seasons, and advanced to the Western Conference Final in each of the past three years.
The two teams split the season series in 2024-25, with each winning on the road. Overall, the Rangers have points in eight of their past nine games against the Stars (6-1-2), after they were 1-0-1 last season.
3 storylines when Rangers host Stars
1. Lineup decisions
With the injury to Fox, and another sustained by fourth-line forward Adam Edstrom in practice Monday, the Rangers needed to juggle their lineup a bit. Rookie Scott Morrow draws in on the third defense pair, and Braden Schneider moves up to the top pair alongside Vladislav Gavrikov in Fox’s absence.
“Obviously, ‘Foxy’ is not an easy guy to replace, for so many reasons,” coach Mike Sullivan said Monday. “But we’re going to put a game plan together with the guys that we have to try and set our group up for success.”
Either veteran Conor Sheary, a healthy scratch the past three games, or 2021 first-round pick Brennan Othmann, who was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Monday, replaces Edstrom in the lineup. Edstrom is day to day with a lower-body injury.
Taylor Raddysh, who missed practice for personal reasons, is in the lineup Tuesday.
2. Rangers to use 5 forwards on top power-play unit
Not having Fox quarterback the top power-play unit is a big issue for the Rangers. Fox is one of the best puck distributors in the League, and has points on eight of New York’s 13 power-play goals this season. And the Rangers should have even more power-play goals considering how many great looks Fox created.
Without him Tuesday, the Rangers plan to utilize five forwards on the top unit, with Artemi Panarin up top replacing Fox as the PP quarterback. Will Cuylle’s been added to the grouping for his excellent net-front play. Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller, and Vincent Trocheck round out the top unit.
So, why no defenseman, like Morrow, Schneider, or Gavrikov?
“Because we don’t think that’s the strength to their games at this point,” Sullivan responded Monday. “Obviously, I think ‘Foxy’ is an elite power-play defenseman with how he distributes the puck up there, the way he sees the game. He’s got really good instincts. We don’t necessarily think that’s the strength of some of the guys just mentioned.”
Sullivan added that he’s not married to the decision, should that five-forward unit go south at some point. Morrow is most likely to move up from the second power-play unit, if needed.
3. Pick your poison
Here’s the issue with the Stars: they’re among the best in the NHL on both sides of the puck. They average 3.50 goals scored per game, third most in the League. And their team goals-against is 2.65 per game, seventh best. Dallas’ plus-22 goal differential is second best in the NHL, behind the Colorado Avalanche, who are a whopping plus-48.
Schneider’s assessment of the Stars?
“Talented, fast, hard group. I think they’re been a playoff team that’s been close a couple times and they play fast and they can score goals,” the 24-year-old said.
“So, we have to make sure that we’re being the aggressor and taking it to them.”
Here’s an interesting nugget: both the Rangers and Stars are 11-2-0 when scoring first this season.
New York Rangers projected lineup
Artemi Panarin — Mika Zibanejad — Alexis Lafreniere
J.T. Miller — Vincent Trocheck — Jonny Brodzinski
Will Cuylle — Noah Laba — Brett Berard
Conor Sheary — Sam Carrick — Taylor Raddysh
Vladislav Gavrikov — Braden Schneider
Carson Soucy — Will Borgen
Matthew Robertson — Scott Morrow
Igor Shesterkin
Spencer Martin
Rangers vs. Stars: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Dallas Stars
When: Tuesday Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden
How to watch: MSG2
