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Rangers welcome in the Red Wings and Marc Staal to MSG tonight |
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The Blueshirts, off a thrilling 3-2 shootout win over the Bruins, take on the Red Wings tonight. Long time Ranger, Marc Staal, returns home for the first time since leaving New York and joining the Detroit squad. The Garden faithful better give him the standing ovation he deserves during what should be a nice tribute video. After tonight's game, New York is off until Sunday, when they are on the road in Ottawa, and then have three days off before facing Washington at home.
The lineup tonight should be the same as Tuesday:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Lafreniere
Panarin-Strome-Goodrow
Hunt-Chytil-Gauthier
McKegg-Rooney-Reaves
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Jones-Schneider
Shesterkin
Scratched: Nemeth, Hajek, Barron
Nemeth, who has been sidelined due to what was termed personal reasons, went on injured reserve today. The veteran defenseman has been battling lingering effects from his bout with COVID-19 in late December, which sounds eerily similar to what Mika Zibanenajd dealt with last year. Given the nature of the virus and variance of reaction time by person, trying to put a timeframe on when he might be back is impossible.
With Nemeth sidelined, we should get a chance to see a steady diet of the Zac Jones-Braden Schneider pairing that was so effective against the Bruins. The duo were a combination at Hartford, providing them a chance to build up chemistry. Now, they get a chance to show when they can do together at the NHL level. We already have a sense as to what Schneider brings and a projection of Jones, based on his tenure late last year and snippets of action this season. All the talk of adding a bluelienr might get blunted slightly if the twosome is effective, though I wouldn't be shocked if at least a depth d-man is brought in by the March 21 trading deadline.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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