Time: 7:00pm ET
Place: Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI
TV: BSDET, MSG
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket
Rangers Blog: Blueshirt Banter
Preview
Feels like déjà vu all over again. For the second time in five days the Detroit Red Wings will face off against the New York Rangers, this time on home ice. When they met this past Sunday Detroit clawed back from an early 2-0 hole to tie the game up before winning it in overtime while on the powerplay on a very nice back door pass from David Perron to Dominik Kubalik. Since then the Red Wings played host to the Montreal Canadians on Tuesday night, losing in a shootout 3-2, and the Rangers blew a 3-1 third period lead to the New York Islanders.
Nothing has really changed with the Rangers since they last played the Red Wings. Their top four forwards Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Pararin, Chris Kreider, and Vincent Trocheck still account for a very large portion of their offensive production up front. Adam Fox provides most of the production on the blue line while K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba play a solid defensive style that can be tough to crack. Igor Shesterkin is showing a little wear and tear early on (he has played in 10 of their 14 games) and his rock solid play has tapered off ever so slightly while Jaroslav Halak is still trying to find his game consistently but gave Detroit some issues on Sunday.
Detroit comes into tonight’s game with a 7-3-3 record overall, good enough for 17 points and a tie for second place in the Atlantic Division. The Rangers, on the other hand, have lost three in a row since shutting out Philadelphia back on November 1st and currently sit in fifth place in the Metro Division with a 6-5-3 record (15 points). Despite New York’s struggles, they are still a tough team and will be another test for the young and banged up Red Wings early on.
