Game Day: Rangers vs Canadiens – Home Opener, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy
Jordan Lambe
Pre-game Notes and Quotes
Michel Therrien: “I really like the character of this team. Starting the season with four road games can be a double-edged sword. We were happy to go on the road, but to finish up in Pittsburgh against one of the league’s powerhouse teams – and win – really shows the character of our team.”
Max Pacioretty: “I’m so impressed with that win because that’s such a hard game to win, I think more so than people realize. On the road for four games, the Penguins obviously haven’t had success yet and they’ve got a great team. This was their home opener. They came out with a lot of energy.”
Max Pacioretty: “The involvement of our defencemen is the reason we are playing so well.”
The Canadiens have never opened a season 5-0-0 (although they have opened a season 4-0 four times) and are 1-3-1 in their last five home openers.
The Rangers lead the league last season with 28 road wins, while the Canadiens placed 3rd in home wins with 26.
Henrik Lundqvist: “I think sometimes when you create a lot of shots you feel like you are controlling the game a little bit, but at the same time you need to get in there and create the big chances, and they made it tough for us to do that,”
Matchup
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC. | October 15, 7:30 PM ET | TV: SN360,MSG,RDS
2015-16 statistics
RANGERS
CANADIENS
6 (4th)
Points (Eastern Conf. rank)
8 (1st)
3-1-0
Record
4-0-0
1-1-0
Home
0-0-0
2-0-0
Road
4-0-0
3-1-0
Last 10
4-0-0
3.25
G/G
3.25
2.50
GA/G
1.50
75.0
PP%
12.5
81.8
PK%
84.6
45.8
CF%*
58.6
45.8
CF60*
64.3
54.2
CA60*
45.4
*Advanced statistics: Score adjusted, even strength. CF%: Corsi for percentage of total CF60: Corsi For/60 minutes CA60: Corsi Against/60 minutes (via War on Ice)
Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Nash – Brassard – Zuccarello
Kreider – Stepan – Hayes
Miller – Lindberg – Stalberg
Fast – Moore – Stoll/Etem
2015-’16 regular season: Record: 3-1-0 GAA: 2.26 Sv%: .933 SO: 0 Alternate: Antti Raanta
2015-’16 regular season: Record: 3-0-0 GAA: 1.67 Sv%: .945 SO: 0 Alternate: Mike Condon
Fantasy Outlook
Henrik Lundqvist has uncharacteristically struggled in the past versus the Canadiens. In 30 career games, he has a GAA of 2.70, SV% of .902, 2 shutouts and has only won 14 games. With a decent sample size, history shows that Lundqvist isn’t as “King-like” when facing the Canadiens. With only 8 games on tap though, it is hard to recommend sitting Lundqvist unless your team is VERY deep in goaltending. Start Lundqvist cautiously and hope that history is proven wrong (unless your a Habs fan that is).
Surprisingly, Oscar Lindberg is the Rangers’ top goal scorer with 4 goals in 4 games. Lindberg is a 23 year old rookie who is currently lining up as the team’s third line center, maintaining this (or even remotely close to this) rate is obviously impossible. Not to mention that Lindberg has only had 8 shots on net in 4 games (yes his shooting percentage is at 50%) and he has yet to log more than 14 minutes ice time. As it is very likely that Lindberg is a free agent in your pool, I would recommend refraining from picking him up as he will likely not even top 30-35 points (at best) this season.
Many expected Andrei Markov to decline this season, mainly due to the fact that he is only a couple months off turning 37 years old. So far these people have been proven wrong, very wrong. Markov hasn’t played less than 20:21 this season, twice topped 25:00, has 4 assists and is tied for the team lead with a +/- of 6 in his first 4 games. With a solid grasp on the top 2 defense pairings and always a great bet to play a solid amount of powerplay minutes, Markov is a very solid pickup for any fantasy team.
