Game #23: New Jersey Devils vs New York Rangers Open Thread
The Rangers will look to bounce back from their horrific collapse against Edmonton on Saturday against Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, and the rest of the New Jersey Devils tonight. After a handful of years of being the hot breakout pick every offseason by pundits around the league, the Devils have officially taken the next step and emerged as one of the dominant teams thus far.
Coming into tonight’s game with an 18-4-0 record, no other team has more wins than New Jersey as they sit tied atop the league standings with the Boston Bruins. After leaving the Blueshirts to take the Devils’ head coaching job and battling calls for him to be fired, Lindy Ruff has emerged as an early front runner for the Jack Adams award while questions have begun swirling around Gerard Gallant’s handling of things thus far.
Player to Watch: Jacob Trouba
22 games into Trouba’s tenure as captain, the Rangers look like a rudderless ship, and Trouba himself hasn’t played particularly well either. Having had a day off to do some soul searching, the Blueshirts will need one of their best efforts of the season in order to knock of the Devils, and their captain has to step up. Keep an eye on Trouba and hope he doesn’t get victimized too many times defensively tonight.
Enjoy the game!