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Rangers face Red Wings on road with six games left in regular season |
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The Rangers, after a stirring victory over the Devils, play one of their final two road games tonight against the Red Wings. Detroit is in a battle for one of the two Wild Card spots and desperately needs a win. New York is looking to build off the win and maintain their lead in the division as well as spot in both the Eastern Conference and President's Trophy races.
Rangers lines vs. Red Wings:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Roslovic
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Wennberg-Kakko
Brodzinski-Goodrow-Vesey
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Gustafsson-Schneider
Quick
Shesterkin
Scratches: Rempe, Jones, Ruhwedel
LTIR: Chytil, Wheeler
What is noticeable is who is not in the lineup, though that is not a major shock. Matt Rempe, after the fight with Kurtis MacDermid and all the post-fight focus, is not active tonight. Given the opponent and all that swirled around him the last 48 hours or so, I don't view this as a major surprise. In addition, he did bang up his hands in the fight, and took a few blows to the head, which also may be contributing to Rempe sitting.
If you haven't seen this video, pretty interesting to see the reactions from the NHL on TNT crew during Wednesday's fight.
Jonathan Quick is starting in net. I figured he would go tonight or Sunday to give Igor Shesterkin a day off. Quick was nominated by the Rangers’ chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association for the Masterton Trophy which is given to the player “who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey." Given where his career looked to be last year compared to where it is now, Quick's nomination is more than deserved.
As Colin Stephenson noted in his column for Newsday, New York may be getting a playoff preview as well as deciding who their first-round match up will be in several of their upcoming games. With the game tonight in Detroit against the Red Wings, plus two contests next week against the Islanders, and one against the Flyers, the Rangers can end up having a large say as to who makes the postseason, either as the third seed in the Metro and/or one of the two Wild Card spots.
Detroit, the Islanders, Philadelphia, Washington and Pittsburgh all are batting to earn the two remaining playoff spots with Toronto and Tampa locks as either the third seed in the Atlantic or first Wild Card spot. Five teams for two spots with three of those squads taking on the Rangers over the next week or so. The results of those contests will go a long way in also determining if New York wins the division, gets the #1 seed in the East and holds off Dallas for the President's Trophy. The other two games the Blueshirts play are this Sunday at home versus Montreal on Steven McDonald award night and April 15 at MSG against Ottawa, who have proven to be a pain in the rear to play.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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