New York Rangers Game Thread: Game 1, Rangers at Blackhawks
Drop the puck.
Second City Hockey
Great googly moogly, the regular season is finally here! Tonight the Rangers kick off their 2015-16 regular season against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks' first line will feature Teuvo Teravainen, Toews, and Hossa and should be a big test for the Blueshirts tonight. As we've seen in every offseason over the past few seasons, Chicago has had to disassemble its successful club in an effort to stay under the cap so there are a lot of new faces and players in new roles in the lineup.
The Rangers' expected lines tonight, according to Andrew Gross, are as follows:
Rick Nash-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Kevin Hayes
J.T. Miller-Oscar Lindberg-Viktor Stalberg
Dominic Moore-Jarret Stoll-Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Dan Boyle
Keith Yandle-Kevin Klein
Tonight will mark the return of Antti Raanta to Chicago after he was acquired in the offseason by the Rangers for prospect Ryan Haggerty. Raanta will probably be watching the banner raise with some mixed emotions because his name was left off of the Stanley Cup. I'm sure we'll also be hearing plenty about Kevin Hayes' connection with the Blackhawks organization. Should be a fun game to watch and a good early test for the Rangers as they start their quest for the 2016 Stanley Cup.
Enjoy tonight's game, gang. Can you believe the regular season is finally here?
Who gets the Rangers' first goal of the season?
Let's go Rangers.