The Nashville Predators will look to rebound from a rough loss to the Minnesota Wild when they take on the New York Rangers this afternoon.
It’s been a great season in Manhattan; the Rangers are at the top of the league standings, and almost all the components of their game back this up. They’ve combined good shooting with great goaltending and a strong, effective power play with a strong, effective penalty kill. They’ve also gotten the bounces they needed despite shakier 5v5 control of the puck. Their defense is fine but not exceptional; their offense has struggled to get to the high-danger areas, but not to score.
Artemi Panarin leads the team in production with 31 points and 19 assists, standing head and shoulders above most of his teammates. He trails Chris Kreider by a single goal–12 to 13–and Kreider’s 20 points lead the rest of the pack. It’s not an exaggeration to say the Rangers’ offense runs through Panarin, who’s been exceptional at generating chances for the team. He, Alexis Lafrenière, and Vincent Trocheck are by far the Rangers’ biggest offensive threat; Lafrenière has eight goals to show for it and Trocheck 17 points.
Nearly-38-year-old Jonathan Quick is determined to show he’s not done yet. While he’s only played in eight games, he’s put up a .930 sv% and a sub-2.00 GAA, both of which would have been good even eight years ago, let alone now with scoring up across the league. Igor Shesterkin, who’s handled a slightly larger share of the Rangers’ games (13), has an extremely respectable .915 sv%.
The Preds’ path to victory lies in shutting down Panarin and his linemates and not taking penalties. If they can do that, it should with luck be a relatively easy afternoon for Juuse Saros or Kevin Lankinen, and they can focus on the attack.
The game airs at 3:30 PM Central on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game.
Statistics from naturalstattrick.com. Additional background from hockeyviz.com.