Rangers Look to Bounce Back Against Bottom Dweller Canucks – Pregame Notes

After suffering a tough defeat to the Anaheim Ducks, the Rangers conclude their back-to-back set where they look to get back on track against the Vancouver Canucks (7PM on MSG)

Rangers vs Canucks

• The Blueshirts are coming off a 4-1 defeat to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. The scoreline makes the defeat seem worse than it actually was as it was 2-1 late before Anaheim added an empty net goal and a garbage time goal in the closing seconds.
  • Igor Shesterkin made the first start in the back-to-back as he stopped 22 shots.
  • The Blueshirts lone goal came from Matthew Robertson which somehow looped over Anahim netminder Lukas Dostal
• Jonathan Quick will make his eighth start of the season for the second game in as many days. Quick is 3-3-1 with a .937 save percentage on the season.
  • Thatcher Demko will start for Vancouver. Demko is 6-5-0 with a .903 save percentage
• New York will look to bounce back and get back on track and perhaps there is no better team to play currently then the Vancouver Canucks
• The Canucks currently sit in last place in the league with 27 points – three points behind the 31st placed Kraken
• Vancouver made major headlines on Friday when they announced they have traded away star defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild
  • Hughes’ contract expires at the end of next season and it became quite clear he was not going to resign in Vancouver
  • The former Norris Trophy winner had 23 points in 26 games before being traded to Minnesota
  • In return – the Canucks got a haul including center Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, a first-round selection in 2026, and the center piece in 20-year-old defenseman Zeev Buium. Buium has 16 points in 32 games in his first full season in the NHL. Rossi is also no slouch with 13 points in 18 games this season. Last season, Rossi broke the 60 point plateau
  • The Rangers were allegedly in on Quinn Hughes, but ultimately they just do not have the pieces to land a superstar of that quality. New York is still heavily rumored to be looking to reshape the core of the team and looking to bring in superstar players
• Not only is it clear that the Canucks are tanking – they are also very injured at the moment and missing many key players
  • Most notably – Elias Pettersson was just placed on the IR in recent days
  • Former Ranger Filip Chytil has resumed skating after suffering a scary hit from Tom Wilson
  • Depth players in P.O. Joseph, Teddy Blueger, and Derek Forbot are also out of the lineup
• Mika Zibanejad will return to the lineup after being disciplined for missing a team meeting. Zibanejad was forced to sit out the last game as a consequence
  • Head coach Mike Sullivan would not say who is coming out of the lineup in Zibanejad’s place

Projected Lineup:

Cuylle-Zibanejad-Miller

Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere

Sheary-Laba-Berrard

Raddysh-Carrick-Rempe

Gavrikov-Schneider

Robertson-Borgen

Morrow-Soucy

Quick