New York Rangers Host the Resurgent Flames

After surviving against the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime, the Rangers return home to take on the resurgent Flames (7:00PM on MSG).

Rangers	Rankings	Flames
33-16-3	Record	25-22-5
5th	League Rank	19th
12th	Goals For	16th
8th	Goals Against	13th
5th	Power play	27th
5th	Penalty Kill	3rd

Rangers vs Flames

The Rangers defeated the Blackhawks 4-3 in overtime, and will now return to New York to take on the Flames. With the win against the Blackhawks, the Rangers extended their win streak to four games. Calgary has been on a resurgence as well as they have won four-in-a-row too.

During the all-star break, the Flames traded away pending unrestricted free agent Elias Lindholm to the Vancouver Canucks. Lindholm recorded two goals in his Canucks debut, but has failed to record a point in the three games since. Calgary received Andrei Kuzmenko, two prospects, a first-round pick, and a conditional fourth-round pick.

Kuzmenko has had a good start to life in Calgary. The 28-year-old has recorded goals in two of three games. The Flames won their last game prior to the all-star break to put them at NHL .500. Following the break, they made the trade and have won all three-games post all-star break scoring at least four-goals in each game. With the resurgence, the Flames find themselves just three points out of the second wildcard spot.

Jacob Markstrom will get the start in goal for the Flames. Markstrom is having a fine season with a record of 17-13-2 and a .915 save percentage.

Leading the Flames in points is Nazem Kadri with 44 points. But perhaps what’s more impressive is the play of Blake Coleman. Coleman is having a career year as he already recorded 43 points on the season. Coleman’s career high was 38 which he recorded last season. Another former Devil in Yegor Sharangovich is also on pace to break his career high of 46 points. Sharangovich currently has 36 points on the season including 20 goals.

Jonathan Huberdeau was acquired by the Flames in the deal that sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers. Huberdeau didn’t have a great first season in Calgary as he recorded just 55 points. The Canadian wingers last season with the Panthers saw him record 115. Many thought it was just the system of then head coach Daryl Sutter, but once again Huberdeau isn’t playing at his best as he has just 31 points this season. MacKenzie Weeger who they also got in that trade is on pace for a career season offensively. Weeger has 32 points and is just twelve points shy of matching his career high. Weeger’s 15 goals lead all defensemen in goal scoring.

Igor Shesterkin will be back in goal for the Rangers. Shesterkin won his last start in Chicago making 28 saves. The Russian netminder has had the worst season of his career statistically as he struggles to regain form.

The Blueshirts power-play started the season on fire and was at one point the best power-play unit in the league. Their power-play has struggled and head coach Peter Laviolette has had enough and will try to balance out the two units. Artemi Panarin will play on a different unit to Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider. Panarin will be on a unit with his even strength line with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere. The Russian winger found success on his off wing while Zibanejad was in the one-timer role. It will be interesting to see if Panarin will move to the one-time role or if someone else will get that opportunity.

“It’s (power-play) not at the level it was at the beginning of the year,” said Laviolette. Laviolette further elaborated that a balanced approach gives them the opportunity to “push themselves.”

Adam Edstrom will play in his second career NHL game. Edstrom will replace Tyler Pitlick in the lineup on the fourth-line. Edstrom was very noticeable in his only ever career game as he was skating hard and he was rewarded with a goal against Anaheim back in mid-December. New York also called up Matthew Rempe who will be a healthy scratch. Rempe has played both the wing and center as of late and Laviolette will get the opportunity to be more familiar with the 21-year-old. Rempe was a sixth-round pick of the Rangers back in 2020.

Bet of the Night

The bet of the night – The bet of the night is for Alexis Lafreniere to record over 2.5 shots on goal. Lafreniere has been over this in each of the previous five games and now he is expected to get more power-play time with the balanced approach. A $5 bet with odds at +125 after a 50% profit boost will payout $11.25 for a profit of $6.25. Calgary allows an average of over 30 shots a game.

Current record: 17-16

Current Money Total (Based on $5 bets) – We are up $13.90 on the season