The New York Rangers host the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden tonight for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final. Here are the projected/expected lineups, sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.
Related: 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Finals Hub
(1A) PANTHERS at (1M) RANGERS
Eastern Conference Final, Game 1
8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC
Panthers projected lineup
Vladimir Tarasenko — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Anton Lundell — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Sam Bennett — Evan Rodrigues
Ryan Lomberg — Kevin Stenlund — Nick Cousins
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
Scratched: Steven Lorentz, Kyle Okposo, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Spencer Knight, Rasmus Asplund, Mike Benning, Magnus Hellberg, Matt Kiersted, William Lockwood, Mackie Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif
Injured: None
Status report:
- Bennett will play despite not being on the ice for the Panthers full-team morning skate Wednesday.
- Florida coach Paul Maurice said everyone who is expected to be in the lineup is good to go.
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Rangers projected lineup
Chris Kreider — Mika Zibanejad — Jack Roslovic
Artemi Panarin — Vincent Trocheck — Alexis Lafreniere
Filip Chytil — Alex Wennberg — Kaapo Kakko
Will Cuylle — Barclay Goodrow — Jimmy Vesey
Ryan Lindgren — Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller — Jacob Trouba
Erik Gustafsson — Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Scratched: Zac Jones, Chad Ruhwedel, Jonny Brodzinski, Adam Edstrom, Matt Rempe, Blake Wheeler
Injured: None
Status report
- Lindgren (maintenance) is expected to play even though he didn’t practice with the Rangers on Sunday (optional), Monday (full team) or Tuesday (full team).
- Chytil is expected to play after missing the last three games of the second-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes; the forward missed Game 4 because of an illness and did not play in Games 5 or 6 for an undisclosed reason.
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