The New York Rangers will be well represented in Team USA’s lineup when they play their Quarterfinals game of the World Championships against Slovakia on Thursday morning.
New York Rangers Colin Blackwell, Kevin Rooney, and Zac Jones are in the projected lineup for Team USA’s game against Slovakia taking place at 9:15 A.M. Thursday morning. Â The contest can be seen on the NHL Network.
The U.S., winners of Group B, meets Slovakia, fourth-place in Group A, here today in the quarterfinals. Team USA will be the home team and will wear its blue jerseys for the third time. Thursday’s game marks just the second-ever quarterfinal meeting between the U.S. and Slovakia. On May 11, 2000, Slovakia defeated the U.S. by a 4-1 and went on to reach the gold-medal game where they fell to the Czech Republic, 5-3.
Team USA’s eight goals allowed is the fewest by a U.S. entry in group play since the tournament format change in 2012 … With Team USA’s win over Italy (4-2), the U.S. is now 9-1-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) on the second night of back-to-backs and 15-2-0-4 (W-OTW-OTL-L) overall in back-to-back situations since 2016.
Team USA is captained by former New York Ranger Brian Boyle. He was named captain following the announcement that Justin Abdelkader would miss the remainder of the tournament due to a lower-body injury.
Starting in net for Slovakia is Rangers prospect and current AHL Wolf Pack netminder Adam Huska.