The New York Rangers sit in 29th in the standings as they look to play spoiler against the Washington Capitals, who are currently one point out of a playoff spot but have five teams to jump past. The fight for the last playoff spot int he Eastern Conference is a brutal one and every point counts, so the Rangers could really damage the Caps’ playoff hopes, like they did to Detroit yesterday afternoon. The difference is the Caps are on a heater while the Red Wings were a .500 hockey team over their last 10 games.
It’s again worth noting that the barring significant runs (wins or losses), the Rangers are statistically most likely to pick in the 4-6 range. There’s a strong argument that building a winning culture as the kids continue to contribute is better than the marginal upgrade in odds to land one of the top-two picks in the draft. Players don’t tank, even if fans want them to.
Rangers Lines
Gabe Perreault-Mike Zibanejad-Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle-Vincent Trocheck-Jonny Brodzinski
Conor Sheary-JT Miller-Tye Kartye
Adam Sykora-Noah Laba-Jaro Chmelar
Vlad Gavrikov-Adam Fox
Drew Fortescue-Braden Schneider
Matthew Robertson-Will Borgen
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Caps Lines
Aliaksei Protas-Dylan Strome-Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier-Justin Sourdif-Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime-Hendrix Lapierre-Ethan Frank
Martin Fehervary-Rasmus Sandin
Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cole Hutson-Matt Roy
Charlie Lindgren gets the start.
Game time is 7pm.