Trocheck Returns! Perreault Makes Season Debut!

It will be a big night at Madison Square Garden as the Rangers get some welcome additions for their offense (7:00PM on MSG).

Rangers	Rankings	Predators
7-7-2	Record	5-8-4
24th	League Rank	30th
31st	Goals For	30th
2nd	Goals Against	29th
31st	Power play	27th
9th	Penalty Kill	11th

Rangers vs Predators

Mike Sullivan’s squad will get some much needed good news as reinforcements have arrived for Monday night’s game. Vincent Trocheck will return from injury and the Rangers top prospect Gabe Perreault will join the top six as the Rangers look for a jolt to their offense. New York’s offense has scored just six goals in seven games on home ice and they have been shutout in five of them. Trocheck was injured in just the second game of the season and he has missed the previous 14 games. Trocheck will center Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere – a line that has had a lot of success in previous seasons. Trocheck will likely start on the second power-play unit as the first unit with Will Cuylle was successful in Detroit. Matt Rempe was placed on long-term injured-reserved to make room for Trocheck being activated.

Perreault is the Blueshirts top offensive prospect and he will finally get his chance in the NHL with the top line. The 20-year-old had a small taste of the NHL last season under former head coach Peter Laviolette, but he never got sustained time with the Rangers’ top forwards.

“Our intention is to try to set him up for success so he can play with strengths,” Sullivan said. “So in other words, I don’t know that makes a whole lot of sense to call a player up like that and put him on in the bottom six role.”

“I’ve been playing well. I think it was really good for me to go down there and play a lot of minutes, work on all the things I needed to work on,” Perreault said. “.Hopefully it translates.”

And there are not many teams that can be a better opponent for the Rangers than the Nashville Predators. Nashville has lost the last four games and they don’t score goals like the Rangers and they do not keep the puck out of the net either. And to make matters worse, their captain and top defender Roman Josi is currently out with an upper-body injury.

Juuse Saros will get the start in goal for the Predators. Saros is 5-5-3 with a .902 save percentage. Igor Shesterkin will be back in goal for the Rangers after being defeated by the Islanders on Saturday night.

Leading Nashville in points is Filip Forsberg with 13 points. Forsberg also has seven goals which is the most on the team. Former Lightning captain Steven Stamkos has just three goals and one assist in four games.

Adam Edstrom will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch against the Islanders. Edstrom figures to slot in on the fourth line with Sam Carrick and Conor Sheary. Jaroslav Chmelar has been sent back to Hartford. Juuso Parssinen will be a healthy scratch on Monday night. Jonny Brodzinski and Matthew Robertson will be healthy scratches too.