Rangers desperately need two points as they host the St Louis Blues

After getting beaten all over the ice by the openly rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks, the Rangers will face a foe that raises more questions tonight. It is the streaky St Louis Blues. When the Blues are playing well, they are among the best teams in the NHL. When they are in one of their tailspins, they still possess the talent to beat teams but it just underachieves. New York needs to see the second iteration of their opponents tonight.

After the catastrophe that was the 5-2 defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Rangers sent down forward Jonny Brodzinski. He was reassigned to AHL Hartford. While that is positive regarding the health of Filip Chytil, this also allows the Rangers to continue to accrue deadline cap space. As of this moment, they are projected to have more than $7 million to use at the deadline. Whether they wish to use it or not is a different question. Chytil is listed as day-to-day.

Igor Shesterkin is expected to return to the crease as New York’s reigning Vezina Trophy winner is going to be listed as the starter for the Blueshirts once again. He’s been good this season but this year has been a clear step backward after his dominance last campaign. While it is unclear whether or not Shesterkin will return to that caliber of netminder,

New York Rangers

Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Jimmy Vesey
Artemi Panarin – Vincent Trocheck – Vitali Kravtsov
Alexis Lafreniere – Barclay Goodrow – Kaapo Kakko
Sammy Blais – Jonny Brodzinski – Julien Gauthier

Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller – Braden Schneider
Libor Hajek – Jacob Trouba

Igor Shesterkin
Jaroslav Halak

St Louis Blues

Brayden Schenn – Ryan O’Reilly – Jordan Kyrou
Pavel Buchnevich – Robert Thomas – Vladimir Tarasenko
Brandon Saad – Ivan Barbashev – Josh Leivo
Nathan Walker – Noel Acciari – Tyler Pitlick

Nick Leddy – Colton Parayko
Torey Krug – Justin Faulk
Niko Mikkola – Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington
Thomas Greiss

Puck Drop time and where to watch

New York will be going after two points at Madison Square Garden with a 7 PM Puck drop. Bally Sports Midwest will carry the Blues feed for this game and MSG will be broadcasting the game for the Rangers fan base. With the Rangers needing a in tonight to attempt to right their sinking ship, this game will be a must-watch for the Rangers fan base. This isn’t going to be an easy game for the heart rate, but it needs to be won.