The Rangers after what seems to be an eternity off - three days - return to action tonight against the Sabres. Get used to this break, as after a Saturday game in Detroit, New York is off again until Tuesday. That contest is a demarcation one as the Blueshirts face the Jets at home.
Probable Lines:
Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Kreider-Chytil-Kakko
Cuylle-Trocheck-Smith
Edström-Carrick-Vesey
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Jones-Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Victor Mancini and Jonny Brodzinski are the healthy scratches
Coach Peter Laviolette spoke as usual after practice yesterday and made it fairly clear that he would like to keep these liens together for a while. Granted, record will play a part in that decision, but the recent line shifts look her to stay a bit. The hope is that doing so will build chemistry amongst the units, improving the offense, but more important, the defensive production.
When asked if he wants to keep the lines together, this was Lavy’s response:
The answer is I would like to,” Laviolette said after practice on Wednesday at MSG Training Center. “I think the record always kind of dictates [and comes] into play. If you’re not playing well and the record’s not producing, how long can you stay with something and say, ‘That’s not working?’ When something is working or you are getting results and you think that there’s room for growth, but you’re getting results, you tend to stay with it a little longer.
I’m not just talking one loss. Trying to show a little bit of patience, but the game’s got to follow, as well.”
New York has been reliant on special teams and elite goaltending - sound familiar - but as we know, that is not always sustainable. My biggest concern right now is on their side of the ice. Cleaning up the deficiencies there will make an 8-2-1 team even more dangerous and go a long way to easing some of the fanbase’s early worries.
Arthur Staple noted this in his Athletic column today: “ Laviolette switched up his defense pairs Sunday along with his forward-line juggling, and the results were not convincing. Going back to the previous seasons’ pairs of Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller–Jacob Trouba led to the Miller-Trouba pair being caved in at five-on-five, both on the ice with a host of high-danger chances against, and to Fox having one of his worst games of the young season alongside his longtime partner.”
One positive that came out of the win was the Zac Jones-Braden Schneider pairing. Schneider looks closer to the player we saw his rookie season and is deserving of top-four minutes. I think we all believe Jones needs to remain the lineup to build on what he has shown to date.
One change we likely will see is Jones in as the second power play unit point man over Miller. Jones is better as a puck mover and distributor and may make quicker decisions on the man advantage. In addition, this would afford him a slight uptick in ice time and enable Jones to remain even more engaged rather than getting stale on the bench.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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