Following a gritty win against the young Anaheim Ducks, the Blueshirts are in the nation’s capital for their second divisional game of the season (7:30PM on ESPN).
Rangers | Rankings | Capitals |
6-1-1 | Record | 5-2-0 |
6th | League Rank | 14th |
3rd | Goals For | 7th |
2nd | Goals Against | 10th |
8th | Power play | 30th |
5th | Penalty Kill | 10th |
Previous Game
The Blueshirts are coming off a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. It was a back-and-forth game with many stretches of each team taking a turn controlling play or nothing major happening. It was an even game with both goaltenders playing extremely well, but ultimately it was the experienced Rangers getting the job done. New York got goals from their depth in Ryan Lindgren and Will Cuylle. Cuylle also had a goal taken away from him just minutes before his second of the year. Jonathan Quick made 32 saves during his second start of the season.
Rangers vs Capitals
New York will now travel to Washington D.C. where they will take on the Capitals for their second divisional matchup of the season. The first divisional game was on opening night against the Penguins where they won 4-0 in Pittsburgh. This is the first time these two teams have met since the Rangers swept the Capitals out of the first round last postseason.
Matt Rempe was recalled from Hartford and is projected to skate on the fourth line. It is no secret to anyone, the Blueshirts have history with the 6’4 Tom Wilson. Rempe offers New York that extra protection and toughness for what could be a physical contest. Jonny Brodzinski will likely be a healthy scratch.
“We make the decisions based on what we think we need for any given night,” said head coach Peter Laviolette. Laviolette would expand on his comment saying how Rempe got to play multiple games in Hartford getting way more ice time and playing in different situations including both sides of special teams.
“I’m still so young,” Rempe said to the media on Monday. “I want to keep growing my game. I want to play games… I think it’s really positive for me.”
Don’t be surprised if Rempe’s second stint in New York is also a short one as Jimmy Vesey is nearing his return. Vesey will be eligible to play against the Islanders on Sunday afternoon. The American winger started the season on the long-term injured reserve list and thus was forced to miss the first ten games of the season. Tuesday’s game against Washington will mark the ninth game of the season. When Vesey returns, New York will have to send someone down to Hartford to make room, making Rempe the obvious candidate. Vesey ditched the non-contact jersey for a normal one on Monday.
Washington is having an excellent start to the season as they hold a respectable 5-2-0 record. Leading the Capitals in points is Dylan Strome who has nine points in seven games. Some names brought in this past offseason include Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jakob Chychrun, Jakub Vrana for his second stint with the team, and goaltender Logan Thompson from Vegas. Thompson will get the start on Tuesday for the Capitals as the even split with Charlie Lindgren continues. Thompson is 3-0-0 with an .884 save percentage.
Alex Ovechkin continues to chase history as he is just 39 goals behind Wayne Gretzky for the most all-time. Gretzsky has 894 career goals while Ovechkin is currently at 855. Ovechkin currently has two goals this season (853 and 854), and would need a 41 goal season to tie the record. The 39-year-old appears to be starting to slow down as last season’s 31 goal season was the fewest goal total he had in his entire career besides the shortened season due to the pandemic in 2020-2021. Currently, ‘The Great Eight’ is on pace for a mid 20 goal season.
Igor Shesterkin will be back in goal for the Blueshirts. Shesterkin was rested on Saturday and should be fully ready for what is slated to be a tough divisional matchup. In front of him, Victor Mancini is likely to return to the lineup in place of Zac Jones.
Bet of the Night
The bet of the night is a two-leg parlay. For the first leg we will use Capitals forward Ovechkin to get 2+ shots on goal at -500. Ovechkin has done this in every game thus far this season as he continues to chase Gretzky. For the second leg, we will use an anytime Vincent Trocheck point at -210, The combined odds give us -150. Trocheck was excellent vs the Capitals in the first round last season and he has currently been held off the scoring sheet in the previous three games. Trocheck is due for a big game and he comes up against a team that he torched last postseason. A $5 bet would pay $8.33 for a profit of $3.33.
Current record: 3-2
Current Money Total (Based on $5 bets) – We are up $2.77 on the season
Projected Lineup
Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe
Miller-Fox
Lindgren-Trouba
Schneider-Mancini
Shesterkin
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