Rangers Look to End Losing Skid Against St. Louis

After suffering their second straight defeat for just the second time this season, the Rangers will be looking to halt their losing streak when they travel to St. Louis (8PM on MSG2).

Rangers	Rankings	Blues
26-11-2	Record	20-18-1
6th	League Rank	23rd
10th	Goals For	26th
9th	Goals Against	20th
1st	Power play	32nd
6th	Penalty Kill	20th

Rangers vs Blues

The Rangers will be looking to get back on track after being defeated 6-3 by the Vancouver Canucks. The Rangers need a “get right” game and they need to play a strong defensive game. New York has been prone to defensive errors and turning the puck over in recent games. The Rangers have a record of just 8-7-1 in their last 16 games.

St. Louis has had a tough start to the season especially when it comes to offense. The Blues have scored just twelve power-play goals all-season which is three fewer than the next worst team. For comparison, Chris Kreider alone has nine power-play goals this season.

With the Blues struggling to start the season, St. Louis made a somewhat surprising move when they fired their Stanley Cup winning head coach Craig Berube. Berube won the Stanley Cup with the Blues during the 2018-2019 season. The Blues were the worst team in the league at the beginning of January and Berube took them to the promise land. Drew Bannister is the current interim head coach

Jordan Binnington was a big part of that team that won the Stanley Cup as he became the starting goalie after starting the season in the minors. Binnington was rewarded with a six-year 36-million dollar contract in 2021. The 30-year-old is scheduled to make the start on Thursday night against the Rangers. Binnington is 13-11-1 with a .905 save percentage on the season.

Former Rangers have been a problem for the Blueshirts lately, and the Blues have a trio of former Rangers who will be looking to make them pay. Kevin Hayes was acquired by the Blues in the offseason from the Flyers. Hayes signed out of college with the Rangers and was a key contributor to the middle-six during his tenure in New York. Hayes played parts of five seasons with the Rangers.

Sammy Blais was acquired by the Rangers when they traded Pavel Buchnevich to St. Louis. Blais played parts of two seasons with New York. In the first season, Blais suffered an early season ending injury just 14 games into his tenure. In the second season, Blais often found himself buried in the lineup or a healthy scratch before being traded back to St. Louis. The 27-year-old recorded nine assists in 56 games with the Rangers. Blais has never scored in a game involving the Rangers whether it be for or against New York.

Buchnevich being traded surprised many Blueshirts fans and hockey fans around the league. Buchnevich was nearly a point-per-game player in New York and was a key penalty killer. The Russian winger continues to be a key player for the Blues as he has 29 points in 37 games this season. Since trading Buchnevich, the Rangers have had a rotating cast of players to play alongside the Kreider and Mika Zibanejad duo. The number of players who have played with them are in double digits and the Rangers have never found someone who has had chemistry with the pair. Some players include current Rangers such as Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, and Blake Wheeler and former Blueshirts such as Patrick Kane, and Vladimir Tarasenko.

On Thursday night, the Rangers duo will get a new linemate as Will Cuylle will get his chance on the top line. Cuylle has been used in a mostly shutdown role and depth scoring this season, but now he will get his chance to produce on the offensive end. The former second-round pick has seven goals and four assists during his rookie season.

New York has called up Jake Leschyshyn and sent down Brennan Othmann. Othmann got his first taste of the NHL, but the Rangers want their former first-round pick to be playing a bigger role and more minutes to develop more.

“The first game, he had some impact offensively,” said head coach Peter Laviolette. “I thought it was a little bit less than the second game.”

Leschyshyn was claimed by the Rangers during the 2022-2023 season. The former Vegas Golden Knight has played in just 13 games with the Rangers and he has yet to record a point. Leschyshyn will slot in the middle of Nick Bonino and Jonny Brodzinski.

The Rangers have also called up defenseman Matthew Robertson. The reason for this call up is more unknown as the Rangers have Zac Jones on defense who has filled in when a defenseman has been unavailable. This could mean that someone is unavailable and Jones will be slotted in, leaving Robertson as the emergency extra. The other inkling reported by Rangers beat writers is that Jacob Trouba’s wife is expecting to give birth sometime in January and that this is a precautionary move if Trouba takes any time off.

Igor Shesterkin will be back in goal after giving up five goals on 25 shots against the Canucks. Shesterkin’s stats read as 16-9-0 with a .904 save percentage on the season.

Injured Rangers Kaapo Kakko and Tyler Pitlick joined the Rangers on this quick two-game road trip. Neither of the two will be available to play in St. Louis, although Kakko is close to returning and could return by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.

“He looked really good to me again,” Laviolette said about Kakko practicing.

The bet of the night – The bet of the night is an anytime Vincent Trocheck assist. Trocheck has seven assists in his previous five games. Although he did not record an assist against Vancouver, Trocheck has not gone two games without an assist since before Christmas. At +100 odds a $5 bet will payout $10 for a $5 profit.

Current record: 15-8

Current Money Total (Based on $5 bets) – We are up $45.70 on the season