The Rangers play their penultimate preseason game tonight against the Devils. New York wraps up their exhibition season tomorrow against Boston. Coach Peter Laviolette is still tweaking the lineups and line combinations looking for a fit to start this season.

Rangers lineup this morning and expected alignment tonight:
Panarin-Zibanejad-Kakko
Kreider-Trocheck-Wheeler
Cuylle-Goodrow-Pitlick
Vesey-Bonino-Othmann

Miller-Trouba
Gustafsson-Fox
Lindgren-Schneider

Quick
Garand

PP1- Fox, Zibanejad, Trocheck, Panarin and Kreider

PP2- Miller, Gustafsson, Cuylle, Wheeler and Kakko

The top line is a work in progress with Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko flanking Mika Zibanejad. Laviolette seems to want to try Panarin and Zib together and Kakko gets another shot with the big boys. That means Chris Kreider is on the second line, though with Filip Chytil still sidelined, use pencil and pen for th me current trio. Chytil, sidelined with an upper body injury, skated with the coaches this morning, and seems to finally be making some progress.

Will Cuylle and Brennan Othmann get another chance to impress. Putting Othmann on the fourth line is a waste, so I would expect him and Tyler Pitlick to change spots at some point. When Chytil returns, put him on the second line, slide Trocheck down and put Goodrow on a wing. If Alexis Lafreniere, scratched tonight, see below, stays on the left side, Goodrow could play right wing on that third line. If not him, Jimmy Vesey, unless Cuylle or Othmann break camp with the team.

Lafreniere is scratched for no other reason than he will play tomorrow, which will be the fourth preseason game for which he has dressed. Laviolette has said he did not want to have his players dressing for more than four games in the preseason, so we can dispense with all of the drama that he was being scratched to send a message. The jury is still out on where Lafrenière will fit and he also needs to do a much better job with his effort, etc. but he does not look to be in any danger of being a pressbox visitor.

Jonny Brodzinski, who has a leg up on the 13th forward spot, Zac Jones and Ben Harpur look like the scratches. In net with be Jonathan Quick. Dylan Garand was called back up to serve as the second goalie tonight with Igor Shesterkin in net tomorrow. If Quick struggles again, the drumbeats to go with Garand, which is my opinion would be too early, or Louis Domingue or to reach out to Jaroslav Halak will get louder.

Laviolette also continues to try different d-pairings, largely to get players used to skating with each other in case the need arises during the year. While Miller-Trouba remain a duo tonight, Adam Fox is paired with Erik Gustafsson and Ryan Lindgren skates with Braden Schneider. I would expect the pairs to return to normal for the opener with Gustafsson filling the sixth D slot.

A tip of the hat to Derek Stepan who retired yesterday after a 13-year NHL career. Most known with the Rangers in general and for his Game 7, OT winning goal against the Capitals, Stepan also tallied a hat trick in his first game with the team. A 2018 second round pick, Stepan relied on his smarts, Instincts and hockey knowledge to usually be in the right place at the right time. A stalwart on the squads that made long playoff runs, Stepan finished his career in Carolina after stints in Arizona and Ottawa. He now is shadowing GM Bill Guerin in Minnesota and should end up in the doesn’t office somewhere before too long.

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