Who: New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals
Where: Madison Square Garden:
When: Sunday night at 7:00 PM
Watch: MSG Network beginning at 6:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-98.7 FM and NewYorkRangers.com
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The Skinny:
A key Metropolitan Division battle takes place Sunday night at Madison Square Garden as the Rangers (19-11-4, 42 pts) host the first-place Washington Capitals (23-6-2, 48 pts). Not only do the Blueshirts trail the Caps by six points, but Washington has played three fewer games, making Sunday's encounter an extremely important one for New York. The Rangers are coming off back-to-back 5-2 defeats on the road Thursday in Minnesota and Friday in Winnipeg, and they have only one win in their last six games (1-4-1) and only three in their last 13 (3-8-2). Along with their own significant struggles of late at both ends of the rink, the Rangers will also have to contend with one of the hottest teams in the league Sunday, a Capitals squad which has gone 11-1-1 in its last 13 contests and which is coming off Friday's uplifting 5-3 comeback win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in which the Caps erased a 3-0 deficit midway through the game. In their last four defeats (0-3-1) the Rangers have surrendered an uncharacteristically-high 22 goals--five allowed in three games and a season-worst seven in Edmonton nine days ago. All of those ugly defeats came on the road, so if there is a positive for the Blueshirts Sunday it's that their 13 wins on home ice are tied for most in the National Hockey League. They have won their last two home contests--outscoring Edmonton and Ottawa 8-3 combined--and three of their last four games at MSG. Of course the Capitals are 10-3-1 on the road this season, tied for the second most road victories in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers got Derek Stepan back in the lineup Friday after he sat out ten games with broken ribs, and he resumed his normal work load with 18 minutes worth of ice time, though he was held off the score sheet. Injured defenseman Kevin Klein might be able to return to the Blueshirts lineup on Sunday, though that is still to be decided by the coaching and medical staffs. Dan Girardi will miss his fourth consecutive game with a sore knee. That will put added pressure on the Rangers D facing one of the league's top offensive teams, one that features Alex Ovechkin (16 goals, 29 points), Nicklas Backstrom (ten goals, 28 points), Evgeny Kuznetsov (19 assists, 28 points), T.J. Oshie (12 goals) and defenseman John Carlson (19 assists and 25 points).
Head To Head:
This is the second of five meetings between these two Metropolitan Division rivals this season. The first on November 3 at The Garden was all Rangers, with the Blueshirts skating to a 5-2 home-ice victory, scoring those five goals on only 21 shots against Braden Holtby. Oscar Lindberg and Alex Ovechkin exchanged first period goals before the Rangers reeled off three in a row bridging the late first and early second periods. Kevin Hayes, Kevin Klein and Derick Brassard scored those goals, and Brassard, Lindberg and Hayes each notched two points in the win. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 of 34 shots in goal for New York. With that victory the Rangers have now won five of their last six regular season games against the Capitals, and, of course, they also knocked Washington out of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs with a second-round seven-game victory last spring. The Rangers will host the Capitals again on January 9 and then the two teams will meet in Washington on January 17 and March 4 to conclude their season series this year.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-J.T. Miller: He may only have one point--a goal--in ten career games against the Capitals, but J.T. Miller has been one of the Rangers best forwards over the past several weeks and bears watching against Washington Sunday night. Miller has been playing with a very physical, aggressive style, becoming of the team's most consistent forwards in on the fore check. He also scored a gritty, dirty goal by going hard to the net to bury a rebound for New York's first goal Friday night in Winnipeg, his sixth of the season, which is just four shy of his career-best ten set last season. Miller also had the primary assist on Ryan McDonagh's goal Thursday night in Minnesota, and has recorded four points (2-2-4) in his last four games. However he has done nearly all of his damage this season on the road, and has not recorded a point at MSG since he had a goal and an assist at home against the St. Louis Blues back on November 12.
Capitals-Braden Holtby: In the midst of a simply outstanding season in goal for the Capitals, Braden Holtby hit a speed bump Friday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Holtby was removed from the game 8:57 into the second period after allowing three goals on 12 shots, but was bailed out by his teammates who rallied for a 5-3 victory behind backup Phillip Grubauer. Despite that below-average night, Holtby still leads all NHL goalies with 20 wins on the season, and he owns a sparkling overall record of 20-4-1 in 26 starts. The 26 year-old Holtby also leads the NHL with a 1.92 GAA and ranks fifth with a .931 save percentage so far this season; and all of this comes hot on the heels of a terrific 2014-15 campaign in which he led the NHL with a career-high 73 games played and ranked second with a career-best 41 victories and nine shutouts before posting a 1.71 GAA and .944 save percentage in the playoffs. Since the first two games of this season Holtby has surrendered three goals or more just four times--including a season worst five against the Rangers on November 3--so the Blueshirts will have their work cut out for them on the scoring end of things Sunday night, especially with Holtby motivated to bounce back after Friday's sub-par outing.
Where: Madison Square Garden:
When: Sunday night at 7:00 PM
Watch: MSG Network beginning at 6:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-98.7 FM and NewYorkRangers.com
******************************
The Skinny:
A key Metropolitan Division battle takes place Sunday night at Madison Square Garden as the Rangers (19-11-4, 42 pts) host the first-place Washington Capitals (23-6-2, 48 pts). Not only do the Blueshirts trail the Caps by six points, but Washington has played three fewer games, making Sunday's encounter an extremely important one for New York. The Rangers are coming off back-to-back 5-2 defeats on the road Thursday in Minnesota and Friday in Winnipeg, and they have only one win in their last six games (1-4-1) and only three in their last 13 (3-8-2). Along with their own significant struggles of late at both ends of the rink, the Rangers will also have to contend with one of the hottest teams in the league Sunday, a Capitals squad which has gone 11-1-1 in its last 13 contests and which is coming off Friday's uplifting 5-3 comeback win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in which the Caps erased a 3-0 deficit midway through the game. In their last four defeats (0-3-1) the Rangers have surrendered an uncharacteristically-high 22 goals--five allowed in three games and a season-worst seven in Edmonton nine days ago. All of those ugly defeats came on the road, so if there is a positive for the Blueshirts Sunday it's that their 13 wins on home ice are tied for most in the National Hockey League. They have won their last two home contests--outscoring Edmonton and Ottawa 8-3 combined--and three of their last four games at MSG. Of course the Capitals are 10-3-1 on the road this season, tied for the second most road victories in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers got Derek Stepan back in the lineup Friday after he sat out ten games with broken ribs, and he resumed his normal work load with 18 minutes worth of ice time, though he was held off the score sheet. Injured defenseman Kevin Klein might be able to return to the Blueshirts lineup on Sunday, though that is still to be decided by the coaching and medical staffs. Dan Girardi will miss his fourth consecutive game with a sore knee. That will put added pressure on the Rangers D facing one of the league's top offensive teams, one that features Alex Ovechkin (16 goals, 29 points), Nicklas Backstrom (ten goals, 28 points), Evgeny Kuznetsov (19 assists, 28 points), T.J. Oshie (12 goals) and defenseman John Carlson (19 assists and 25 points).
Head To Head:
This is the second of five meetings between these two Metropolitan Division rivals this season. The first on November 3 at The Garden was all Rangers, with the Blueshirts skating to a 5-2 home-ice victory, scoring those five goals on only 21 shots against Braden Holtby. Oscar Lindberg and Alex Ovechkin exchanged first period goals before the Rangers reeled off three in a row bridging the late first and early second periods. Kevin Hayes, Kevin Klein and Derick Brassard scored those goals, and Brassard, Lindberg and Hayes each notched two points in the win. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 of 34 shots in goal for New York. With that victory the Rangers have now won five of their last six regular season games against the Capitals, and, of course, they also knocked Washington out of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs with a second-round seven-game victory last spring. The Rangers will host the Capitals again on January 9 and then the two teams will meet in Washington on January 17 and March 4 to conclude their season series this year.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-J.T. Miller: He may only have one point--a goal--in ten career games against the Capitals, but J.T. Miller has been one of the Rangers best forwards over the past several weeks and bears watching against Washington Sunday night. Miller has been playing with a very physical, aggressive style, becoming of the team's most consistent forwards in on the fore check. He also scored a gritty, dirty goal by going hard to the net to bury a rebound for New York's first goal Friday night in Winnipeg, his sixth of the season, which is just four shy of his career-best ten set last season. Miller also had the primary assist on Ryan McDonagh's goal Thursday night in Minnesota, and has recorded four points (2-2-4) in his last four games. However he has done nearly all of his damage this season on the road, and has not recorded a point at MSG since he had a goal and an assist at home against the St. Louis Blues back on November 12.
Capitals-Braden Holtby: In the midst of a simply outstanding season in goal for the Capitals, Braden Holtby hit a speed bump Friday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Holtby was removed from the game 8:57 into the second period after allowing three goals on 12 shots, but was bailed out by his teammates who rallied for a 5-3 victory behind backup Phillip Grubauer. Despite that below-average night, Holtby still leads all NHL goalies with 20 wins on the season, and he owns a sparkling overall record of 20-4-1 in 26 starts. The 26 year-old Holtby also leads the NHL with a 1.92 GAA and ranks fifth with a .931 save percentage so far this season; and all of this comes hot on the heels of a terrific 2014-15 campaign in which he led the NHL with a career-high 73 games played and ranked second with a career-best 41 victories and nine shutouts before posting a 1.71 GAA and .944 save percentage in the playoffs. Since the first two games of this season Holtby has surrendered three goals or more just four times--including a season worst five against the Rangers on November 3--so the Blueshirts will have their work cut out for them on the scoring end of things Sunday night, especially with Holtby motivated to bounce back after Friday's sub-par outing.
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