The New York Rangers are being put through the wringer right now with injuries, but they're not making any excuses. Tonight, they welcome the Minnesota Wild to town.
The New York Rangers are being put through the wringer right now with injuries, but they're not making any excuses. Tonight, they welcome the Minnesota Wild to town.
Despite a sloppy third period, the New York Rangers are coming off of one of their best wins of the entire season. On Tuesday night, they defeated the Detroit Red Wings by the score of 5-3 and they're looking to build off of that into tonight.
Per Matt Mugno, Louis Domingue was the first goalie off the ice the teams morning skate, which means he is likely to start to the game tonight.
With that said, this game against the Minnesota Wild will be a more difficult task as they will be leaning on their third-string goalie to help pick up two points.
Keeping Up With The Wild:
Minnesota got off to a tough start to the season, but they enter this battle on a two-game winning streak. They couldn't have asked for a worst start in the first game against the Rangers, but one of the keys to them winning was their ability to stay out of the penalty box. The Wild have the worst penalty kill in the NHL (66.7%), but they only took one penalty in that game.
If Minnesota plays undisciplined, the Rangers should be able to take advantage. New York is currently skating to the league's second-best power play (34.2%) and they're 2/4 in their last two games.
The Wild have been getting scoring from their top-nine in the past five games. Marco Rossi and Ryan Hartman have each scored three goals in that span, while Joel Eriksson Ek, Pat Maroon and Kirill Kaprizov each have two goals.
Minnesota Wild Net-Minders: Fleury Expected To Start
The Minnesota Wild haven't confirmed their starting goalie just yet for tonight as they're playing the first leg of a back-to-back. Fleury will most likely get the nod, but tomorrow night they head to Buffalo to take on the Sabres. It will be interesting to see who they go with tonight. So, let's take a look at both.
Marc-Andre Fleury: In his last four games, Fleury is 2-1-1 with a 2.26 GAA and a .915 SV%. On the season, Fleury is 3-2-1 with a .899 SV% and a 2.69 GAA with a -2.7 GSAx. Fleury has won his last two straight games, so he's probably feeling good entering tonight's contest.
Filip Gustavsson: It's been a rough go for Gustavsson in the early going of the season. He started the last game against the Rangers on Saturday night, but got yanked after allowing three goals on four shots against. This season, he is 2-3-1 with a .871 SV% and a 4.89 GAA. He also has the second-worst -6.7 GSAx.
It appears that the Rangers are sticking with the same lineup as they did against the Red Wings on Tuesday night. Why not when you put up five goals. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Wild Projected Lines: Per Aaron Heckmann
Kaprizov — Rossi — Boldy
Johansson — Hartman — Zuccarello
Foligno — Eriksson Ek — Maroon
Duhaime — Dewar — Lettieri
Brodin — Faber
Middleton — Mermis
Hunt — Bogosian
No pun intended, I'm expecting this one to be wild. With Domingue in goal for New York, this could be an absolute barn burner.