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Rangers take on the Kings minus Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil |
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The Rangers continue their stretch of home games prior to what was to be the Olympics break with a contest against the Kings tonight. Los Angeles, who defeated New York 3-1 in LA on January 10, comes in off a 3-2 win over NJ and should have Jonathan Quick between the pipes. The Kings bottled the Blueshirts up in the neutral zone last game, using their speed to counter attack, leading to their victory. Following tonight's game, the Rangers are off until Thursday, when they are in Columbus to face the Blue Jackets. They then return home to face the Wild on Friday for Henrik Lundqvist's number/jersey retirement.
Injuries continue to pop up for New York. Kaapo Kakko is listed as week-to-week with an upper body injury, rumored to be to his wrist. In addition, Filip Chytil, injured Saturday, will be out today and is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury. Morgan Barron was promoted, but there is no guarantee he gets in the lineup, as coach Gerard Gallant is leaning towards going with 11F/7D, as he liked what Kevin Rooney brought going between the third and fourth line against the Coyotes.
Really want to know what Barron or Anthony Greco or Tim Gettinger or Jonny Brodzinski have to show to get in the lineup when injuries arise. To me, all four showed they could do the job and make a positive impact when they played. Lauri Pajuniemi is stapled to the taxi squad. This overall treatment is fairly indicative that Gallant prefers veterans to rookies, even those that are not kids. Plus, is Libor Hajek truly a better option than one of the aforementioned players?
With Kakko out, we expect the Artemi Panarin-Mika Zibanejad-Chris Kreider trio to be reunited. Kreider was named first star of the week for his performance last week. With Chytil out, the second line should be Alexis Lafreniere-Ryan Strome-Barclay Goodrow, who played together when Panarin was sidelined prior to and part of the West Coast swing. After these six, who knows, it depends on how many forwards dress.
Rooney and Ryan Reaves are givens. I would expect Hunt, who did little when on the first line the other night and was moved down, to probably dress as well. That makes nine forwards. Greg McKegg and Julien Gautheir are the likely 10th and 11th forwards, though Barron could get in over one of them, though is unlikely.. If Gallant goes with the traditional set up, expect Barron to dress as the third or fourth line center.
With those players out and the struggles of Lafreniere, as well as Chytil and Kakko, each to varying extents, the rumor mill continues to churn names,. Ryan Carpenter for the bottom-six. J.T. Miller for the top-six. Jakob Chychrun for the left side of the Blueline. Expect GM Chris Drury to be aggressive with the deadline still aways away with the same needs on this roster growing more apparent game by game.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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