New York Rangers Pregame: McIlrath in for Boyle, Glass Stays on Fourth Line against Winnipeg Jets

From Andrew Gross' Rangers Rants yesterday:

"Our original thought was to put Quickie (Fast) back in," Vigneault said. "But I thought Tanner played a good game so I wanted to keep that line together."

Tanner Glass will be dressing in his second straight game which will, disappointingly, keep Jesper Fast watching the game from the press box yet again.

Dylan McIlrath will make his season debut tonight at the expense of the 39 year old Dan Boyle who will be a healthy scratch for the Blueshirts. It appears that Kevin Klein will take Boyle's spot on the Rangers' power play. Vigneault made it clear that he really wanted to see McIlrath in a regular season game, but he also didn't spare his criticism of Boyle's slow start to the season:

"I think that [Boyle] can play a little bit better than he has played so far, but at the end of the day [the decision] has a little bit more to do with the fact that I want to see Dylan, so we decided to make a change."

Vingeault is likely dressing Glass and McIlrath because of the big, physical lineup that the Winnipeg Jets put on the ice. Dustin Byfuglien seemed to have hurt his leg against the New York Islanders so there is some question about him playing tonight, but we should learn that after today's morning skate. However, even if the Jets are without big Byfuglien they have players like Chris Thorburn, Tyler Myers, Adam Lowry, and Mark Stuart in the lineup. All of whom are either big or mean or both.

The Jets are 2-1-0 and have scored 11 goals in their first three games. Matthieu Perreault and Blake Wheeler are both off to hot starts and each have four points under their belts to start the 2015-16 season.

This will be the first time the Jets and Rangers have met since Dustin Byfuglien earned a four game suspension for his nasty cross-check to the head of a defenseless J.T. Miller at the end of March in the 2014-15 season.

With Glass and McIlrath in the lineup I wouldn't be surprised to see tonight's game at the Garden have a fighting major or two against a Jets team that has a lot of size and nasty in the lineup. As of yet the Jets have yet to have a fighting major this season and the same is true of the New York Rangers.

Henrik Lundqvist will get the start tonight for the Rangers, which will be his fourth straight start of the season. Hank is 12-7-7 against the Jets in his career with a .922 SV% and a 2.09 GAA. The Rangers and Jets split their season series last year.

Oh, and Oscar Lindberg still leads the league in goal scoring with four goals in three games.

For the opposition's coverage on the game, check out Arctic Ice Hockey. I'll update this article if there are any major developments to either team's lineup, including Byfuglien's status, when they become available after the morning skate.

UPDATE: Looks like Byfuglien is in for the Jets and Michael Hutchinson will get the start in net.

Thanks for reading, Let's go Rangers!

Is this the right game to dress Dylan McIlrath?