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Rangers look to avenge loss to Hurricanes tonight in Carolina |
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The Rangers look to avenge their 3-2 loss Tuesday to the Hurricanes tonight in Carolina. New York allowed Carolina to dictate the pace of play and play their style of game, leading to the defeat. Tonight, will be very interesting to see how the Blueshirts respond, especially on the road.
To beat Carolina, east to west play is suboptimal. They hem you in your own zone, squeezing the defensemen, preventing you from clearing the zone easily. If you don’t have forward support on the boards and strong coverage and handoffs in the slot, you are toast.
New York has to make quick, short passes to take advantage of the small gaps in the Carolina structure and system. That should create some room and allow for easier dump and chase when gaining the blue line is not an option. The hope is that over time, you wear down the defense or create turnovers with your speed and forecheck, like the fourth line did Tuesday. To quote coach Garard Gallant, go more North-South and less East West.
K’Andre Miller struggled in the loss he made several poor reads and his positioning left more than a little bit to be desired. Some of the mistakes are ones where at this point in his career, even though he doesn’t have an inordinate amount of experience on the blue line, he shouldn’t be making. After his misplay, leading to a Canes goal, Gallant changed the D-pairings, putting Miller-Schneider as one pair and Trouba-Mikkola as a second. If Miller scuffles again, we could see these units in the contest. (Update: Ryan Lindgren scratched tonight. He tweaked his prior injury Tuesday and is out for precautionary reasons. Look for New York to pasoibky sit him for a while with positioning pretty much decided. Ben Harpur is back in)
Tuesday night, in the third period, coach Gerard Gallant tweaked the power play units. Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad were moved back to the top grouping. in practice Wednesday, Artemi Panarin was stationed alongside the half-wall on the right side while Patrick Kane, also on the right side, was along the goal line. Kane, after arriving in New York, was first used on the half-wall. This change hopefully allows for more flexibility and player movement, creating additional options. Here are the new groupings:
Kreider-Mika-Panarin-Kane-Fox
Chytil-Trocheck-Tarasenko-Laf-Trouba
Congrats to Bryce McConnell-Barker, selected in the third round, 97th overall last season, for signing his ELC with the Rangers today. His three-year deal will kick in next season. The 18-year-old forward is the captain of the Soo Greyhounds (Ontario Hockey League) and he currently leads the team with 74 points (29 goals and 45 assists). His 29 goals are second-most on the team through 66 games played.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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