W2W4: Rangers vs. Senators 12.06.15
Who: New York Rangers vs. Ottawa Senators
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:
After a blistering nine-game winning streak in which they managed nearly every conceivable way to win a game, the Rangers (17-7-3, 37 pts) have fallen on some rough times, posting a 3-5-1 mark over the past nine games, including a 1-4-1 mark in their past six. Sunday night at MSG they host the Ottawa Senators () looking to put together a solid and complete 60-minute effort before heading out on a three-game, week-long trip to Western Canada. Defenseman Marc Staal said on Saturday following practice that he is hopeful the Rangers are a bit more refreshed when they take the ice against Ottawa, having had two days off in the schedule for the first time since starting a grueling nine-games-in-15-days adventure which began November 19 and just concluded with Thursday's 2-1 home-ice loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Sunday's contest will be the Rangers only game in a five-day stretch as they then will next face the Canucks in Vancouver on Wednesday evening. New York has been struggling to score goals--they have just ten in their last six games, only five of which have come during 5-on-5 play, and only two in their last two matches, both one-goal defeats. Chris Kreider has one goal in ten games, Mats Zuccarello has one in seven, J.T. Miller one in his last eleven, Derick Brassard one goal in nine, and Rick Nash is without a goal in his last four matches. As such Alain Vigneault is shaking up his forward line combinations. Oscar Lindberg--who has three goals in his last five games--will center Nash and Kreider. Brassard and Zuccarello remain together, but with Kevin Hayes now on their line. Dom Moore is in between miller and Jesper Fast. And Jarret Stoll will center Tanner Glass and Viktor Stalberg. Emerson Etem again will be the healthy scratch, while New York continues to play without the injured Derek Stepan and Kevin Klein. Henrik Lundqvist starts in goal, coming off a superb 36-save performance in Wednesday's 2-1 shootout loss to the Islanders in Brooklyn. The Rangers will face a young, fast-skating, highly-skilled Senators team which is beginning a four-game road trip. Ottawa snagged a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 overtime victory over the Islanders Saturday night, one in which they erased a 2-0 third-period deficit, tied the game with less than a minute to play, and then won it on team captain Erik Karlsson's goal off a 3-on-1 rush. The Senators have won two straight and six of eight entering Sunday's action, a run that has pushed Ottawa to 33 points, just one behind second-place Detroit in the Atlantic Division. Ottawa has fared very well on the road so far this season, coming in to The Garden at 7-3-1, but they likely will have to play without center Kyle Turris who suffered a leg injury against the Islanders. Backup goaltender Andrew Hammond remains out with an injury, so it would appear that Craig Anderson will make his 11th consecutive start in goal for the Sens on Sunday.
Head To Head:
The Rangers enter Sunday's game having won five of their previous seven contests overall against the Senators, including a 2-1 shootout win up in Ottawa on November 14. In that game Chris Kreider scored New York's only goal, just 2:31 into the contest, while Ottawa's Erik Karlsson countered four minutes later. Neither team scored again until the shootout when Ottawa's Bobby Ryan put New York in a 1-0 hole after the first round. However Mats Zuccarello tied things up in Round Two and Dan Boyle netted the decisive tally in Round Three to lift the rangers to victory. Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves in the win, and stopped 2 of 3 shots in the shootout. Last year the Rangers split a pair of games with the Senators at MSG, winning in overtime 3-2 on January 20 as Lundqvist made 33 saves, and losing 3-0 on April 9 in the next to last game of the regular season. These two teams will meet once more in 2015-16, facing off on January 24 up in Ottawa.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Oscar Lindberg: All eyes will be on the Rangers Swedish rookie Oscar Lindberg as he takes on more responsibility Sunday, centering one of the top two lines, with Rick Nash and Chris Kreider on his wings. Through 27 games Lindberg has been a revelation--second on the team and tied for first among all NHL rookies with ten goals, and ranking third on the team and fourth among league rookies with 17 points. He has accomplished all of this to date as the Rangers third line center, albeit with a rotating cast of wingers flanking him. Now with Derek Stepan injured and Alain Vigneault searching for productive line combinations Lindberg moves up in responsibility, and he gets the chance to play more minutes--he is averaging just 12:34 per game this season--and with two of the team's top projected scorers, including Nash a two-time 40-goal scorer. So Lindberg will be expected to produce offensively whereas before he was in more of a secondary scoring slot, despite his first-year success so far. Lindberg scored New York's only goal in Thursday's 2-1 loss to Colorado, and he has three goals in the last five games. In his lone previous game against Ottawa on November 14, Lindberg was held without a point, and he recorded two shots on goal in slightly more than 14 minutes of ice time.
Senators-Mike Hoffman: After a breakout 27-goal season a year ago, Mike Hoffman is off to an even better start in 2015-16. Through 22 games played, Hoffman leads Ottawa--and is fourth in the NHL--with 14 goals. His 26 points--better than a point-per-game average--are tied for second most on the Senators and ninth overall in the league. Those are some heady stats for the former fifth-round draft pick who took a while to develop, becoming an NHL regular last season at the age of 25. Not blessed with tremendous size, Hoffman is a hard-working forward who is a lot to handle, both at even strength and on the power play. Last season he scored 26 of his 27 goals at even strength, and this year he has started to become a go-to power play performer with four power play goals already on the season. Right now Hoffman is as hot as they come in the NHL. Hoffman is riding an impressive seven-game point-scoring streak in which he has scored nine goals and totaled 12 points. Saturday night against the Islanders Hoffman scored the game-tying goal with the Sens goaltender pulled and only 37 seconds remaining in regulation. In the previous contest Hoffman scored the overtime game-winning goal against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Who: New York Rangers vs. Ottawa Senators
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:
After a blistering nine-game winning streak in which they managed nearly every conceivable way to win a game, the Rangers (17-7-3, 37 pts) have fallen on some rough times, posting a 3-5-1 mark over the past nine games, including a 1-4-1 mark in their past six. Sunday night at MSG they host the Ottawa Senators () looking to put together a solid and complete 60-minute effort before heading out on a three-game, week-long trip to Western Canada. Defenseman Marc Staal said on Saturday following practice that he is hopeful the Rangers are a bit more refreshed when they take the ice against Ottawa, having had two days off in the schedule for the first time since starting a grueling nine-games-in-15-days adventure which began November 19 and just concluded with Thursday's 2-1 home-ice loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Sunday's contest will be the Rangers only game in a five-day stretch as they then will next face the Canucks in Vancouver on Wednesday evening. New York has been struggling to score goals--they have just ten in their last six games, only five of which have come during 5-on-5 play, and only two in their last two matches, both one-goal defeats. Chris Kreider has one goal in ten games, Mats Zuccarello has one in seven, J.T. Miller one in his last eleven, Derick Brassard one goal in nine, and Rick Nash is without a goal in his last four matches. As such Alain Vigneault is shaking up his forward line combinations. Oscar Lindberg--who has three goals in his last five games--will center Nash and Kreider. Brassard and Zuccarello remain together, but with Kevin Hayes now on their line. Dom Moore is in between miller and Jesper Fast. And Jarret Stoll will center Tanner Glass and Viktor Stalberg. Emerson Etem again will be the healthy scratch, while New York continues to play without the injured Derek Stepan and Kevin Klein. Henrik Lundqvist starts in goal, coming off a superb 36-save performance in Wednesday's 2-1 shootout loss to the Islanders in Brooklyn. The Rangers will face a young, fast-skating, highly-skilled Senators team which is beginning a four-game road trip. Ottawa snagged a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 overtime victory over the Islanders Saturday night, one in which they erased a 2-0 third-period deficit, tied the game with less than a minute to play, and then won it on team captain Erik Karlsson's goal off a 3-on-1 rush. The Senators have won two straight and six of eight entering Sunday's action, a run that has pushed Ottawa to 33 points, just one behind second-place Detroit in the Atlantic Division. Ottawa has fared very well on the road so far this season, coming in to The Garden at 7-3-1, but they likely will have to play without center Kyle Turris who suffered a leg injury against the Islanders. Backup goaltender Andrew Hammond remains out with an injury, so it would appear that Craig Anderson will make his 11th consecutive start in goal for the Sens on Sunday.
Head To Head:
The Rangers enter Sunday's game having won five of their previous seven contests overall against the Senators, including a 2-1 shootout win up in Ottawa on November 14. In that game Chris Kreider scored New York's only goal, just 2:31 into the contest, while Ottawa's Erik Karlsson countered four minutes later. Neither team scored again until the shootout when Ottawa's Bobby Ryan put New York in a 1-0 hole after the first round. However Mats Zuccarello tied things up in Round Two and Dan Boyle netted the decisive tally in Round Three to lift the rangers to victory. Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves in the win, and stopped 2 of 3 shots in the shootout. Last year the Rangers split a pair of games with the Senators at MSG, winning in overtime 3-2 on January 20 as Lundqvist made 33 saves, and losing 3-0 on April 9 in the next to last game of the regular season. These two teams will meet once more in 2015-16, facing off on January 24 up in Ottawa.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Oscar Lindberg: All eyes will be on the Rangers Swedish rookie Oscar Lindberg as he takes on more responsibility Sunday, centering one of the top two lines, with Rick Nash and Chris Kreider on his wings. Through 27 games Lindberg has been a revelation--second on the team and tied for first among all NHL rookies with ten goals, and ranking third on the team and fourth among league rookies with 17 points. He has accomplished all of this to date as the Rangers third line center, albeit with a rotating cast of wingers flanking him. Now with Derek Stepan injured and Alain Vigneault searching for productive line combinations Lindberg moves up in responsibility, and he gets the chance to play more minutes--he is averaging just 12:34 per game this season--and with two of the team's top projected scorers, including Nash a two-time 40-goal scorer. So Lindberg will be expected to produce offensively whereas before he was in more of a secondary scoring slot, despite his first-year success so far. Lindberg scored New York's only goal in Thursday's 2-1 loss to Colorado, and he has three goals in the last five games. In his lone previous game against Ottawa on November 14, Lindberg was held without a point, and he recorded two shots on goal in slightly more than 14 minutes of ice time.
Senators-Mike Hoffman: After a breakout 27-goal season a year ago, Mike Hoffman is off to an even better start in 2015-16. Through 22 games played, Hoffman leads Ottawa--and is fourth in the NHL--with 14 goals. His 26 points--better than a point-per-game average--are tied for second most on the Senators and ninth overall in the league. Those are some heady stats for the former fifth-round draft pick who took a while to develop, becoming an NHL regular last season at the age of 25. Not blessed with tremendous size, Hoffman is a hard-working forward who is a lot to handle, both at even strength and on the power play. Last season he scored 26 of his 27 goals at even strength, and this year he has started to become a go-to power play performer with four power play goals already on the season. Right now Hoffman is as hot as they come in the NHL. Hoffman is riding an impressive seven-game point-scoring streak in which he has scored nine goals and totaled 12 points. Saturday night against the Islanders Hoffman scored the game-tying goal with the Sens goaltender pulled and only 37 seconds remaining in regulation. In the previous contest Hoffman scored the overtime game-winning goal against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Rangers Prospect Blog: Gropp, Morrison Finish Month Strong
Rangers prospect Ryan Gropp closed out November on a high-note, scoring two goals and two assists in his final two games of the month, including a three-point game on Nov. 27 against Vancouver.
The 2015 second-round pick has 15 goals and 24 points in 22 games this season with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.
Like Gropp, fellow 2015 pick Brad Morrison closed out the month of
November with a big three-point game for Prince George over Kamploops
Saturday, including a goal. The center has seven goals and 17 points in
22 games this season.
Not to be outdone was Pavel Buchnevich , who scored two goals and two assists over his final three November games for Severstal of the KHL.
The 2013 third-round pick now has 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points in 35 games. The Russian is closing in on career-highs, which he set last year, when he scored 13 goals and 17 assists for 30 points.
Not to be outdone was Pavel Buchnevich , who scored two goals and two assists over his final three November games for Severstal of the KHL.
The 2013 third-round pick now has 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points in 35 games. The Russian is closing in on career-highs, which he set last year, when he scored 13 goals and 17 assists for 30 points.
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