Everything is a new test for the New York Rangers as we wait and see if they are for real or if the other shoe will drop. At 7-3-1 and playing excellent team defense, the Rangers are the surprise team of the early going, but there are still 73 games remaining. They now head to Canada for a quick trip through Toronto and Ottawa, who are both underwhelming to start the season. First up tonight are the Leafs and their absurd offense and their equally bad defense. The Leafs are probably the best offensive team the Rangers have faced thus far and will thoroughly test the team defense and Dylan Garand.
As good as the Leafs are up front is how bad they are on defense and in net. It’s a mess for the Leafs right now, and with the Rangers humming along getting 30 shots in each of the last two games, this could be a boat race real quick. The Rangers defense struggled with the fast and overwhelming Devils offense, which is similar to how the Leafs play. We haven’t really had a boat race game yet, this could be our first.
Rangers Lines
Gabe Perreault-Mika Zibanejad-Alexis Lafreniere
Tye Kartye-JT Miller-Pavel Dorofeyev
Will Cuylle-Noah Laba-Eeli Tolvanen
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Justin Dowling-Taylor Raddysh
Vlad Gavrikov-Adam Fox
Marcus Pettersson-Sean Durzi
Alberts Smits-Braden Schneider
Dylan Garand gets the start.
Scratches: Matt Rempe, Scott Morrow
Injuries: Joe Veleno (IR – lower body), Joonas Korpisalo (IR – lower body), Igor Shesterkin (LTIR – lower body)
Leafs Lines
Easton Cowen-Auston Matthews-Jack Roslovic
Kirill Marchenko-Nick Paul-William Nylander
Gavin McKenna-Colton Sissons-Vinni Lettieri
Brandon Duhaime-Teddy Blueger-Zack Macewen
Jake McCabe-Darren Raddysh
Morgan Reilly-Troy Stetcher
Marshall Rifai-Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Sergei Bobrovsky gets the start.
Game time is 7pm.
