New York Rangers: Expect the Defense to Look Better Tonight
The headline might look like a pretty bold prediction given the struggles of the New York Rangers defense, but when you boil it down to one huge factor, it makes a lot of sense.
Tonight when the New York Rangers face-off against the Nashville Predators at the Garden, they will be without one of their top six defenders. Luckily enough for them, that defender is Dan Girardi.
Of course, you never wanna see a guy like Girardi, or anyone else for that matter, get hurt, so hopefully he has a speedy recovery. But this will be a good chance for the Rangers to see what they can do without him in the lineup.
Girardi is reportedly banged up after blocking numerous shots against the Ducks on Tuesday night en route to earning the Broadway Hat, even with Henrik Lundqvist making 43 saves on the night. Girardi is a locker room favorite for the way he puts his body on the line night after night, so it makes complete sense.
With Girardi exiting the lineup for the night, Adam Clendening will step in. The poster child of Rangers’ bloggers will play his first game since January 25th against the Philadelphia Flyers. He played nearly 17 minutes in the game, tallying 3 shots on net.
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Offensive Enhancement
It is no secret that the Rangers are a more dangerous offensive team when Clendening is on the ice compared to Girardi and most of the other blueliners on the team. What the coaching staff and management hasn’t realized is that the Rangers are also a better defensive team when Clendening is on the ice, compared to Girardi.
Clendening’s CF% is almost 12 percentage points better than Girardi’s and 14 percentage points better than Girardi’s CA60.
Clendening will be playing on a pairing with Marc Staal tonight. It’s interesting that Alain Vigneault will not opt to play Brady Skjei on a pairing with Clendening. The two played well in their abbreviated time together.
In 18 games this season, Clendening has tallied 1 goal and 7 assists along with a plus-6 rating. He has also played a fair amount of power play time in his appearences. In fact, he has scored 1 goal and 1 assist with the extra man.
It is unknown how long Girardi will be out of the lineup. Until then though, expect Clendening to remain in the lineup in his place.
Hopefully Girardi has a speedy recovery for the Rangers, but hopefully they can take advantage of their assistant captain remaining in the press box for the time being.
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