I'll say pretty much the same thing I did against the Caps and the Canes, game 1 is not the end all be all, the sky isn't falling if you lose game 1, but I would like to see the Rangers get the win to protect home ice and set the tone. We won the Pres trophy, earned home ice, swept in round 1, beat a VERY good Canes team in round 2 (I think the best team in the NHL not including us), to lose the first game against the favored Panthers I wouldn't love, plus it would be our first game 1 loss and our first time trailing in a series. Again, won't be the end of the world if we lose, reasonable chance the series will be tied 1-1 going to Florida, but I would really like to see us win game 1 and put some pressure on the Panthers.
Sounds like Chytil is in on the 3rd line with Wennberg and Kakko, 4th line will be Cuylle with Goodrow and Vesey. That is the right move by Lav I believe. Go with Chytil and see how it goes, if he struggles you have Wheeler waiting ready to go, or even Rempe if you need a physical presence. 3 keys as I see it: 1. Keep Barkov in check. People will say Tkachuk, but I say Barkov is the key cog for the Panthers. Barkov and Zibanejad will be interesting to see which one performs better. 2. Handle their physical play while staying smart and not retaliating costing us a PP or taking dumb penalties. The Panthers were the most penalized team in the regular season and are the # 2 penalized team in the playoffs. Be physical and don't bow down to them, or let their physical play control the series, but don't be stupid. The best way to make them pay is score on the PP, that will make them think twice. 3. Keep a close eye on Reinhart when the Panthers are on the PP. 27 of his 57 regular season goals were scored on the PP. If the Rangers can do these 3 things in a reasonable way, I think they stand a solid chance of winning the series.
Lindgren good to go after missing the past two days of practice for "maintenance days". Chytil will be in on the 3rd line. Read an interesting article that said best alignment for the Rangers is play Chytil at C on the 3rd line with Cuylle and Kakko and move Wennberg down to form a strong checking line with Goodrow and Vesey. The thinking is Cuylle has played well, and you want him out there with a chance to score, and that 3rd line can score, and Wennberg is so responsible defensively, and struggles to score, he'd be better on the 4th line as a checking line that can play against one of Florida's top two lines most shifts. We'll see how the 3rd line performs tonight. Forward Filip Chytil also is expected to play in Game 1 after missing the past three games against Carolina. Chytil had said Tuesday that he would be good to go for Game 1, when he skated as the left wing on the third line with Alex Wennberg and Kakko Kappo for the second straight practice. Forwards Jonny Brodzinski, Matt Rempe and Blake Wheeler stayed on the ice for extra work after practice, an indication they will be scratched. "That I'm here at this time, it's beautiful for myself and I can't wait for the game tomorrow," Chytil said Tuesday.
Hoping to see Fox have a Leetch type game, maybe the extra rest has helped with what ever was bothering him
Pretty sure it's his knee. Yeah, it would be great if the extra few days helped. The Rangers are going to need him to elevate his game at some point in this series. The Panthers are going to try to pound them with the forecheck. Going to be an intense first period is my guess.
Not expecting chytil to last long with Floridas physical play. If they do go to next man up I hope its Rempe to give them physical presence. I don't want to see brodshitski who gives them nothing and wheeler wasn't very good when he was healthy! Interesting to see which bob we get. The great goalie or the inconsistent one. The way the pundits, experts and Vegas are viewing this series I hope the rangers show up. Getting no respect for being the best team in hockey all season! LETS GO RANGERS!!
Agree on Chytil but I hope I'm wrong. Bennett was a guy I wanted on this team but Gorton was a Euro pussy fan thus why he got canned. Somebody will have to pummel him if we want to win this series.
Today is 24 days from when Fox potentially hurt the knee against the Caps, so hopefully that is enough time for it to have improved. When he got hurt early in the season he was back in 27 days, not saying this is the same, but I would think that time was worse since he missed games, so 24 days seems like a decent amount of time, and I bet we see a better Fox this series. As for Chytil, we'll see. Remember, him missing game 4 was due to another illness, not concussion symptoms, and games 5 & 6 were Lav's decision to hold him out. So hopefully for him and us he can give us 4 weeks of good hockey if we can get past the Panthers. If not I would think Wheeler is next man up, unless Lav feels we need the physical play of Rempe. I totally agree on Bob as mentioned. He can be very good, but also very inconsistent. Let's hope we get the Bob that can be a little off. It is interesting to me how the Canes were the Cup favorite, and most loved them going into round 2, we beat them, and now it's the Panthers will be our biggest test yet. Maybe I overrate the Canes, but I think they have an excellent team and that was a huge test, so we should be ready for Florida. The Panthers are great also no doubt, but the Canes should have helped prepare us for this series, and I don't view the Panthers as much better than the Canes. Maybe same level, and I may even give the Canes a little edge, but I do not underrate the Panthers, as they are great, and this won't be easy at all. I'm excited and looking forward to it getting started. Would be good for the Rangers if they can win game 1 and start on the right foot again. Always good to win game 1, even if it isn't the end all be all in terms of which team wins the series.
I would have played Rempe but at the same time the Panthers were ignoring Maroon against the B’s. They would have did the same against Rempe. They have enough team toughness to go toe to toe with the panthers
Sam dizzy? It’s probably because fucking Maloney keeps running his fucking mouth every time there’s a big call.
We have to play more physical. Florida is hitting us every chance they get. We are skating by them when we get a chance.
