The Rangers complete their two-game southern Canada swing tonight against the Habs. On Frozen Frenzy day in the NHL with all 32 teams in action starting at staggered times, puck drop is slated for 7:15 pm eastern. The Blueshirts welcome back Ryan Lindgren who missed the first five games with a facial injury suffered in training camp. New York benefits from Montreal being without Juraj Slafkovsky, who is sidelined with an upper body injury.

All 16 games tonight have a different start time – an NHL first after two games coincided during Frozen Frenzy last year – including a puck drop every 15 minutes across 13 games over a three-hour span (from 6:30 p.m. ET to 9:30 p.m. ET). pic.twitter.com/JLn8e6dgJC

— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) October 22, 2024

Rangers lineup tonight in Montreal:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Edström-Carrick-Brodzinski

Miller-Fox
Schneider-Trouba
Lindgren-Mancini

Shesterkin
Quick

Scratches: Rempe, Jones, Ruhwedel
LTIR: Vesey (lower-body)

Alexis Lafreniere, who was day to day with an upper body injury, is in the lineup and good to go. Did anyone really expect him to miss a game in his home town? Look for him to have a big contest in front of his family and friends.

Up front, Matt Rempe is on the bench again. I know many want him in the lineup, but Jonny Brodzinski has done nothing to warrant riding the line. Rempe has been fine when in the lineup in his limited minutes, but he still draws the eyeballs of officials, resulting in questionable penalties at best. His forecheck has not been at the same level as we saw after his call up last year, though that may be due to cautiousness on his part due to the focus of those in black and white. If you think it’s complicated now, just wait until Jimmy Vesey can come off LTIR. Someone will have to go down and it quite likely will be Rempe barring unforeseen circumstances.

Nothing new on Brennan Othman’s injury. As soon as I see or hear anything, will add to the blog or the comments.

On the blue line, with Lindgren activated off IR, Zac Jones is the odd man out. He has done nothing to warrant being the one benched again, as he was Saturday, but someone needs to sit for Lindgren. Victor Mancini has earned his spot and should play over Jones, so which one of the other with Lindgren back would you sit?

If you want to argue trading Jacob Trouba was the way to go this offseason, fine. But if you have been watching, he may be the team’s most effective d-man so far this season. New York has seven blueliners for six spots. With Chad Ruhwedel, it’s seven. Both Jones and Ruhwedel require waivers to be sent down. No way Jones passes through, so even though having him sit is less than optimal, no other choice really exists. Ruhwedel might get claimed, but New York will eventually look to limit the press box denizens to one forward and one d-man to reduce the daily cap hit and Ruhwedel is likely the one to go. Maybe Mancini gets sent down since he is waiver exempt but that would be a foolish use of an asset unless he is the one to be benched.

As a reminder, I am out of pocket beginning tomorrow night until Saturday night.

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