Winners of nine straight and going for a franchise record 10th in a
row on Thursday night at Amalie Arena against the Lightning, the
Rangers will make just two alterations to their lineup from Sunday’s 4-3
win over the Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden.Defenseman Dan Boyle will re-enter the lineup after scoring the shootout winner in Saturday’s 2-1 shootout win at Ottawa. Rookie Dylan McIlrath was a minus-2 in 11:00 against the Maple Leafs. Boyle has three assists in 14 games as he returns to Tampa Bay, where he played parts of six seasons with the Lightning from 2001-2008, including being an integral member of their 2004 Stanley Cup winner.
And Henrik Lundqvist will be back in net after Antti Raanta won his fourth straight to start his Rangers’ career. Lundqvist brings a 10-2-2 record, a 1.69 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage into the game, which will be the first time the Rangers face the Lightning since their 2-0 loss in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final on May 29 at the Garden.
From today’s fast-paced and well-organized practice, here is the projected lineup (no surprises):
Rick Nash-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-J.T. Miller
Oscar Lindberg-Kevin Hayes-Viktor Stalberg
Dominic Moore-Jarret Stoll-Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Dan Boyle
Keith Yandle-Kevin Klein
Henrik Lundqvist
PP1: McDonagh-Stepan, Nash-Brassard-Zuccarello
PP2: Yandle-Boyle, Kreider-Hayes-Lindberg
Yandle, whose handle-bar mustache has been dubbed “Yandle Bars,” suffered somewhat of a fat lip in practice when he was hit with a stick at the crease and was dripping blood as he skated back to the bench. But he was OK and joking about his looks later on so no worries going forward.
No morning skate planned for the Rangers on Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment