Rangers face tough opponent at home against Canucks
The New York Rangers will look to avoid consecutive losses as they take on the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. In their last game, the Blueshirts rallied from a 3-goal deficit, only to lose the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout 4-3.
“I thought we had a ton of chances and [Sam Montembeault] played really well in net,” coach Peter Laviolette said afterwards. “It was an entertaining game. But there’s definitely some things we could clean up, I think, from turnovers to the defensive zone.”
New York needs to start managing the puck better, as they were charged with 17 turnovers in Montreal on Saturday. It’s certainly a cause for alarm, as the team has gone 2-2-1 in their last five, and 8-6-1 over the last 15 games.
Here’s tonight’s game and broadcast info:
New York Rangers (26-10-2) vs Vancouver Canucks (25-11-3)
Date/Time: January 8, 2024 @ 7:00 PM ET
Arena: Madison Square Garden
TV: MSG
Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM
Note: Subject to change, updated for each game
Related: Analyzing Brennan Othmann’s debut
New York Rangers projected lineup
The Blueshirts lineup should remain the same with Igor Shesterkin projected to start. Kaapo Kakko is now skating with the team as he works his way back from a lower-body injury. Forward Tyler Pitlick is week-to-week with a lower-body issue.
Kreider- Zibanejad – Wheeler
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Goodrow – Vesey
Othmann – Bonino – Brodzinski
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Gustafsson – Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Note: New York will hold a morning skate at 10:30 a.m. ET. Head coach Peter Laviolette will address the media soon after. Check back here for any updates.
New York Rangers vs Vancouver Canucks
Despite losing to the Habs, the Rangers continue to stay near the top of the NHL standings. That’s largely due to a 16-2-1 stretch from late October through early December. However, in their last 15 games, they are 8-6-1 and haven’t done a great job managing the puck.
“We weren’t playing that badly,” said defenseman Adam Fox on Saturday. “We just gave them too many Garde A looks, and they scored on some of them. We battled back hard, and would’ve loved to get two points. We worked for that point.”
While the Blueshirts will need to focus on keeping the puck away from the Pacific Division leading Canucks, the dynamic duo of Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck have been red hot offensively. Over their last six games, they have combined for 21 points (Panarin 11, Trocheck 10). Meanwhile, their linemate Alexis Lafreniere, has scored a goal and 4 assists in that timeframe as well.
Igor Shesterkin is projected to start, and has been heating up by winning 6 of his last 7 starts. The 28 year-old backstop is 6-1-0 with a 2.12 GAA, and a stellar .924 save percentage since December 16th.
Over at the opposition’s locker room, the Rangers need to keep an eye on the trio of J.T. Miller (53 points), Quinn Hughes (49 points), and Elias Pettersson (48 points). If they can keep those three players in check, New York has a great chance to come away with two big points.
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