NY Rangers Game 49: Rangers vs Avalanche

The Rangers are back in action against a revamped Colorado Avalanche team that shocked the hockey world with a Friday night blockbuster trade. Colorado acquired Martin Necas and Jack Drury (and draft picks) in exchange for Mikko Rantanen. For this year, Necas adds some play driving to the top line, but doesn’t have the same scoring impact. Drury adds much needed depth to a team that was desperate to address the bottom six.

This is the second time in as many weeks that these two teams face off, with the Rangers losing in overtime despite a strong game. The Avs are the first “true” test for the Blueshirts as they continue to play well. Detractors will say it’s all Igor Shesterkin driven, and while Shesterkin has been excellent, the Rangers have been much better lately.

Avs Lines

Jonathan Drouin-Nathan MacKinnon-Martin Necas
Juuso Parssinen-Casey Mittlestadt-Arturri Lehkonen
Ross Colton-Jack Drury-Logan O’Connor
Joel Kiviranta-Parker Kelley-Chris Wagner

Devon Toews-Cale Makar
Sam Girard-Josh Manson
Keaton Middleton-Sam Malinski

Mackenzie Blackwood gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle-Mika Zibanejad-Reilly Smith
Chris Kreider-Filip Chytil-Arthur Kaliyev
Adam Edstrom-Sam Carrick-Matt Rempe

Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen-Braden Schneider

Igor Shesterkin gets the start.

Crazy Prediction: All 4 lines score.

Game time is 1pm.