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After a successful three-game road trip, the Blueshirts are back on home ice where they host the defending Stanley Cup Champions (7PM on EST). 

RangersRankingsPanthers
5-0-1Record4-3-1
3rd League Rank8th 
1st Goals For21st 
4th Goals Against25th 
6th Power play18th 
6th Penalty Kill7th

Previous Game

The Blueshirts are coming off a 7-2 victory of the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night. New York got goal contributions up and down the lineup including from the defense. Igor Shesterkin was brilliant in goal once again for New York as he made 21 saves on the night. Filip Chytil was awarded the games top star as he recorded two goals and an assist. 

Rangers vs Panthers

When the schedule was released this past summer, this was a game that both teams and fans circled on the calendar. Thursday night will be the first time the two teams have met since the Panthers defeated the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games this past season. Florida would go on to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games to win the Stanley Cup. 

The Rangers will be extra motivated as they came close to making the finals last year and they still have the same cup aspirations this season. But this is not the same Panthers team that won the Stanley Cup just a season ago. First off, the Panthers are without their captain Aleksander Barkov who is hopeful to return this upcoming weekend. While their core group of players remains the same – their depth took a major hit this offseason as they couldn’t afford to bring everyone back under the salary cap. Key departures include Vladimir Tarasenko, Brandon Montour, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Steven Lorentz, Nick Cousins, Ryan Lomberg, Kevin Stenlund, Anthony Stolarz and Kyle Okposo.

Some of Florida’s depth players they brought in to help replace these players include Jesper Boqvist, A. J. Greer, and Tomas Nosek who is currently out with an injury. 

Off to a terrific start for the Panthers is Sam Reinhart. Reinhart has five goals and seven assists. Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell each have eight points as the only two other Panther players who are averaging a point-per-game. 

Sergei Bobrovsky will be in goal for the Panthers. The Russian netminder has not had the best start to the season as he holds a record of 3-2-1 with an .875 save percentage. He’ll likely oppose Shesterkin who is expected to make his sixth start of the season. 

Artemi Panarin leads the Blueshirts with six goals and seven assists on the season. While the Panthers have three players at point-per-game or better, the Rangers have seven players who are averaging a point-per-game or better including Will Cuylle. The third-line winger has five assists on the season and he is a plus-nine on the season. The 22-year-old currently has the best plus-minus on the Rangers. 

New York is expected to roll out the same lineup that stomped the Montreal Canadiens. Zac Jones and Matt Rempe will remain as healthy scratches. Chad Ruhwedel was placed on waivers by New York on Thursday afternoon. This implies that Victor Mancini has officially earned his roster spot and that he is expected to remain for the long-term. He’ll continue to have Ryan Lindgren as his partner as head coach Peter Laviolette told the media he has no plans to shake up the defensive pairs as of right now. 

Bet of the Night

The Blueshirts top line has been starting to pick up steam after a somewhat slow start to the season. Reilly Smith has at least a point in three of the past four games and he has history with the Panthers. Smith was a member of Florida, but was traded to Vegas in a crazy expansion draft trade. The veteran winger will once again get a chance in a revenge game against his former team on the top line. With his odds for a point at +130, a $5 bet will pay $11.50 for a profit of $6.50. The odds given the circumstances make this a good play with a chance to make more than double your money. 

Current record: 3-0

Current Money Total (Based on $5 bets) – We are up $12.77 on the season 

Projected Lineup

Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith

Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere

Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko

Edstrom-Carrick-Brodzinski

Miller-Fox

Schneider-Trouba

Lindgren-Mancini

Shesterkin

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