Now at 5-0-1, the New York Rangers are getting their second true test of the season as the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers come to town. The Panthers are still a top team in the NHL, but tonight they are without their best player in Sasha Barkov. People will point to Matt Tkachuk as Florida’s best player, but it’s Barkov who allows Tkachuk to roam freely. The Panthers also had to say goodbye to a number of players from last year’s Cup team, mostly as cap casualties.
The Rangers will keep the same lineup that absolutely crushed Montreal the other night. This is a potential preview of a playoff matchup to come, again, in late Spring.
Panthers Lines
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matt Tkachuk
Evan Rodrigues-Jesper Boqvist-Mackie Samoskevich
AJ Greer-Patrick Giles-Uvis Balinskis
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Dmitry Kulikov
Nate Schmidt-Adam Boqvist
Sergei Bobrovsky gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Reilly Smith
Will Cuylle-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko
Adam Edstrom-Sam Carrick-Jonny Brodzinski
K’Andre Miller-Adam Fox
Braden Schneider-Jacob Trouba
Ryan Lindgren-Victor Mancini
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Crazy Prediction: No one mentions the Eastern Conference Final after the 1st period.
Game time is 7pm.
