Who: New York Rangers vs. Dallas Stars
Where: Madison Square Garden
When: Tuesday night at 7:00 PM
Watch: MSG-Plus beginning at 6:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-1050 AM and NewYorkRangers.com
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The Skinny:
Things don't get any easier for the Rangers (21-14-4, 46 pts) now that they have returned home from a three-game road trip because Tuesday night at The Garden the Blueshirts will skate against the team with the most points in the National Hockey League, the Dallas Stars (28-9-4, 60 pts). So after being shut out by the league's hottest team, the Florida Panthers, to close out the road trip Saturday night in South Florida, the Rangers face the team that not only sits atop the league standings, but one that leads the NHL by a wide margin in goals scored so far this season, as well. Team captain Ryan McDonagh said Monday that the Rangers want to face the best the NHL has to offer so that it helps the team raise its own level of play. Head coach Alain Vigneault noted that his club must be at its best to be able to compete against the Stars, and also seemed to challenge goaltender Henrik Lundqvist with some of his comments, notably that the Rangers all-around game will come together and follow suit once that of Lundqvist's rounds back into form. New York likely will play with out one of its top six forwards Tuesday as Chris Kreider is doubtful because of a cut on his hand. The team recalled Jayson Megna from the Hartford Wolf Pack, though it is unclear if Megna will play or replace another forward in the lineup, perhaps Emerson Etem or Viktor Stalberg. After being a healthy scratch the previous two games Kevin Hayes is expected to play Tuesday, centering the third line. Pleased with how well J.T. Miller meshed with Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello the last two contests, Vigneault plans to keep that threesome together as a line combination against a Stars team that is finishing up a three-game road swing through the New York-New Jersey area. The Stars are winless so far on their road trip, losing in overtime to the Devils 3-2 on Sunday before falling 6-5 in Brooklyn to the Islanders the next night in a wide-open affair. Dallas is actually without a win in its last four road games (0-2-2), though still owning a 12-5-4 road mark this season. The Stars own a one-point lead over the Washington Capitals for first overall in the NHL, and are eight points up on Los Angeles for first place in the Western Conference and have a ten-point bulge on the Chicago Blackhawks for the top spot in the Central Division. Their 144 goals scored are 23 more than any other team, and the Stars have two of the NHL's top scorers in Jamie Benn (first in goals with 24 and second in points with 52) and Tyler Seguin (tied for second in goals with 23 and third in points with 50). In addition John Klingberg is second among all NHL defensemen in scoring with 37 points, and tied for first with 32 assists. Those three players, and winger Patrick Sharp (34 points and riding a nine-game point-scoring streak), all have more points than the Rangers top scorer, Mats Zuccarello, who has 31.
Head To Head:
The Rangers and Stars will face one another for the first time this season on Tuesday, and will conclude their two-game season series February 27 in Dallas. Last season the Stars swept the season series against the Rangers--the first time they had done so since 2008-09. The Rangers first dropped a 3-2 decision in Dallas on December 29, 2014, with J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes scoring the goals for the visitors, and then on February 8, 2015 the Rangers were defeated 3-2 by the Stars in overtime at MSG. Chris Kreider scored with 1:20 remaining in regulation to tie that game and force overtime, with the contest decided by an Ales Hemsky OT goal. With that win Dallas has now earned a victory in four of their last six visits to The Garden. Each of the previous six meetings between these two teams has been decided by one goal.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Kevin Hayes: After being a healthy scratch the previous two games, and after being on the receiving end of some harsh criticism from head coach Alain Vigneault, Kevin Hayes draws back into the Rangers lineup Tuesday night. Hayes has struggled mightily in his second NHL season after being the fifth-leading scorer among all NHL rookies a year ago with 45 points. Hayes has just six goals and 17 points in 37 games played so far and is without a goal in his last 16 contests, a span in which he has contributed only three assists, as well. Perhaps what has bothered Vigneault even more is Hayes' play in his own end of the rink and away from the puck, something the coach stated as an area the 23 year-old needs to far better at in his return to the lineup. Hayes centered a line with Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fast on his wings at practice on Monday, and Hayes did have some good chemistry earlier in the year with Lindberg. The Rangers desperately need Hayes to get untracked because he does have a high-end skill level few on this team posses. Tuesday's game against Dallas--Hayes has two points in two career games against the Stars--is an exceptionally important one for the former Boston College standout.
Stars-Jamie Benn: The captain of the Dallas Stars has picked right up where he left off after a standout breakthrough 2014-15 season a year ago. Benn won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer last season, finishing with a career-best 87 points, a total that included a career-high 35 goals. Now at the midway point of the 2015-16 campaign Benn is on pace for an even better season. Benn currently leads the league with 24 goals, is second with 52 points, and fifth with 28 assists--in 41 games played. Should he surpass last year's point total it would continue a trend that has seen Benn improve his point production every season of his NHL career--not including the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign. Benn had 41 points as a rookie in 2009-10, then has recorded 56, 63, 33 (lockout year), 79 and 87 points the ensuing seasons. All told, in 467 career games Benn has amassed 411 points. the 6-foot-2, 210 pound Benn has been held pointless so far on this road trip, which follows a seven-game point-scoring streak in which he notched four goals and 11 points.

Game Preview

Kreider doubtful for Rangers vs. visiting Stars

Monday, 01.04.2016 / 5:54 PM

Brian Hunter - NHL.com Staff Writer

STARS (28-9-4) at RANGERS (21-14-4)
TV: FS-SW+, MSG+
Season series: The Dallas Stars swept the New York Rangers last season, each game a 3-2 final. Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen made 28 saves to end the Rangers' eight-game winning streak on Dec. 29 at American Airlines Center, and forward Ales Hemsky scored 1:02 into overtime on Feb. 8 at Madison Square Garden. Lehtonen made 34 saves and forward Jason Spezza had one goal and two assists.
Stars team scope: Dallas will try to snap its first two-game losing streak of the season; the first-place team in the NHL is 2-2-2 in its past six and 1-3-3 in its past seven on the road. "I don't think it's the first time we've faced adversity," Spezza said after the Stars' optional practice Monday. "We've had some bounce-back games. If you play for a long time you're going to lose a couple of games in a row and this is a tough trip, so it's just a matter of kind of getting back to what we do well." Forward Patrick Sharp has goals in consecutive games and a nine-game point streak (six goals, six assists). Forward Colton Sceviour has two goals and two assists in his past three games. Forward Valeri Nichushkin scored twice Sunday in a 6-5 loss at the New York Islanders, his first multigoal game since Jan. 23, 2014.
Rangers team scope: Forward Chris Kreider is day-to-day with a cut hand and coach Alain Vigneault said he's doubtful. "It's a cut we can't stitch together because of where it is," Vigneault told BlueshirtsUnited.com. Kreider, one of seven Rangers to play in every game this season, is sixth on the team in scoring. Forward Emerson Etem practiced in Kreider's place Monday on a line with Rick Nash and Derek Stepan, but Etem could be a healthy scratch with the recall of forward Jayson Megna from Hartford of the American Hockey League. Megna, who has 48 games of NHL experience with the Pittsburgh Penguins, had seven goals and 18 points in 34 AHL games this season. The Rangers are 5-11-2 since Nov. 25. "We're still kind of middling up and down and it's going to get us nowhere fast unless we find some consistency," defenseman Ryan McDonagh told Newsday. Nash, who is set to play in his 900th NHL game, has 20 goals in 37 games against Dallas.

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