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Rangers and Capitals meet tonight at MSG, Rempe returns to lineup |
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The Rangers and Capitals meet tonight in a playoff rematch. New York defeated Washington in the first round of the postseason last season, dominating the series. The Blueshirts next play Friday in Ottawa against the Senators.
Rangers lineup tonight:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Edström-Carrick-Rempe
Miller-Fox
Lindgren-Trouba
Schneider-Mancini
Jones and Brodzinski the extras.
A few components from the above stick out:
- first and foremost, the return of Matt Rempe to the lineup. After a brief stint in Hartford, Rempe was called back up and re-inserted into the lineup. Rempe played 16-17 minutes in each of his two games for the Wolf Pack, lining up at center rather than wing. He was sent down to avoid atrophying in the press box as he had been a healthy scratch several games on a row.
Rempe was likely promoted to counter the presence of Tom Wilson. Adam Edstrom can be physical but is not someone who inspires the same level of fear and focus as Rempe. This NHL stint may be a short term one for Rempe, as Jimmy Vesey, on LTIR, returned to full practice this week and should be activated once he misses his 10th game.
- second, the defensive pairings have been shuffled again. The first duo is the same and should remain as such moving forward. Colin Stephenson in Newsday wrote: “through the first eight games, the Miller-Fox pair had put up good analytics in 5-on-5 play. With those two on ice, the Rangers had outscored opponents 6-4 in 5-on-5 play, outshot them 78-43, and created 91 scoring chances for, compared to 44 against. And, of course, the team had taken points in seven of the eight games (6-1-1).”
Coach Peter Laviolette is mixing and matching the next two pairings, looking for the best combinations. I thought despite a so-so game against Florida, Jacob Trouba and Braden Schneider should have remained together, as I liked in general what I saw from that pair. But we get Ryan Lindgren and Trouba for the second straight game tonight, which seems to be a unit of similar skill sets, while Schneider is paired with Victor Mancini.
Zac Jones ends up the odd man out. Barring injury, Jones will bounce in and out of the lineup. He did nothing wrong to drive this change, but the team has seven viable d-men and one sits each game in the press box. Jones gets the call tonight to wear a suit and watch from above. Whichever one of Mancini, a righty, or Jones, a lefty, is in the lineup, Schneider will be lined up across the way, switching sides based on who plays.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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