courtesy BLUESHIRTS UNITED
Who: New York Rangers vs. Minnesota Wild
Where: Madison Square Garden
When: Thursday night at 7:00 PM
Watch: MSG-2 beginning at 6:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-1050 AM and NewYorkRangers.com
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The Skinny:
Thursday night at Madison Square Garden the Rangers (27-18-5, 59 pts) look to get back on track when they host a struggling Minnesota Wild team (23-18-9, 55 pts). The Rangers are coming off a 3-2 loss Tuesday in New Jersey and are 3-2-0 in their past five games, while the Wild are 1-7-1 in their last nine contests following a 5-3 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday. The game is extremely important for both teams--the Rangers looking to hold on to second place in the Metropolitan Division while just two points ahead of the ninth-place Devils in the Eastern Conference standings, and the Wild just one point out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. New York will be missing two key players Thursday as Rick Nash is joined on the sidelines by Kevin Klein, who suffered a fractured thumb against the Devils and is out indefinitely. Nash will miss his fourth straight game with a bone bruise in his left leg. Klein will be replaced by rookie Dylan McIlrath in the lineup, while the same group of 12 forwards remain in for the Rangers while Nash gets healthy. The Rangers top line the past two games has featured Derick Brassard centering J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast. Brassard has six points (2-4-6) in his last two matches, while Miller has three goals in that span--and seven in his last seven games--and Fast has notched three assists in the past two games. More production is needed from throughout the rest of the lineup, however, and the Blueshirts must get better play out of their special teams-- with the struggles of both the power play and penalty killing units directly costing the Rangers Tuesday's game in New Jersey. The Rangers are just 2 for their last 39 on the power play, and on Tuesday their PK surrendered two goals on two opportunities. New York has used home ice to their distinct advantage this season with their 18 wins at The Garden tied with Washington for most at home in the Eastern Conference. Minnesota is coming off a road defeat in Brooklyn and is 1-4-1 in its last six road contests. Overall the Wild are under .500 at 9-10-6 on the road this season. Two other areas where the Wild have struggled this season: they are just 3-13-6 when surrendering the game's first goal and are 1-9 in overtime. Like the Rangers, Minnesota's specialty teams have been middle of the pack nearly all season. On the positive side Minnesota goaltender Devyn Dubnyk is tied for third in the league with four shutouts and is coming off his first All Star Game appearance, Charlie Coyle is on a career-best four-game goal-scoring streak, and Jason Pominville recorded the 600th point of his NHL career in Tuesday's game in Brooklyn.
Head To Head:
The Rangers and Wild will play Thursday night for the second and final time this season. Back on December 17 in Minnesota the Rangers dropped a 5-2 decision to the Wild, a game which saw Wild captain Mikko Koivu score twice and finish with three points. Antti Raanta started between the pipes for the Rangers and allowed the first goal scored by Koivu before being knocked out of the game when he took a slap shot square to the face mask. Raanta allowed the one goal on four shots and then Henrik Lundqvist finished up, surrendering four goals on 31 shots. Dominic Moore and Ryan McDonagh scored for New York in a contest the Rangers never led. McDonagh now has eight points (1-7-8) in seven career games against Minnesota. Despite that loss the Rangers have won four of their last six meetings with the Wild, and on home ice the Rangers have won four of their last five contests against the Wild. Three of the last four head-to-head meetings between these two teams have been decided by one goal, as have six of the last ten games played between the Rangers and Wild.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Dylan McIlrath: For the second time this season rookie defenseman Dylan McIlrath will get an extended run in the lineup. Back in December he appeared in 11 consecutive games when Kevin Klein was sidelined with an oblique injury, and now McIlrath draws back into the lineup on a regular basis because Klein has suffered a fractured right thumb. McIlrath proved to be a very steady and reliable defender when given his extended opportunity in December, playing 17 or more minutes in six of the contests. During that stretch McIlrath played with poise and confidence, and had a negative plus/minus rating just twice in the 11 games. He also scored his first NHL goal on December 15 against Edmonton at The Garden. Since then McIlrath has played in only three of 14 games, though he continued to play very well when called upon. The 6-foot-5 former first-round pick netted his second goal and was a +3 in those three games. Overall the 23 year-old McIlrath is a +5 with a team-high 42 penalty minutes while scoring two goals and totaling three points.
Wild-Mikko Koivu: The captain of the Wild scored a pair of goals and finished with three points the last time these two teams met back in December, but Mikko Koivu enters play Thursday struggling offensively. Koivu has gone 15 games without scoring a goal--last finding the back of the net twice on December 28 against the Red Wings--and he has just four points in that same span. Still Koivu leads the Wild with 35 points this season; and he tied for the team lead with 25 assists while he ranks second with four power play goals. Much of his best production came in the first two months of the season when Koivu recorded 20 points (4-16-20) in the season's first 17 games. He also had a four-game stretch in December where he notched nine points (4-5-9). It is no coincidence that since his production slowed down so has the success of a Wild team which has won only four times during Koivu's cold stretch the past 15 games.
Where: Madison Square Garden
When: Thursday night at 7:00 PM
Watch: MSG-2 beginning at 6:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-1050 AM and NewYorkRangers.com
**********************************
The Skinny:
Thursday night at Madison Square Garden the Rangers (27-18-5, 59 pts) look to get back on track when they host a struggling Minnesota Wild team (23-18-9, 55 pts). The Rangers are coming off a 3-2 loss Tuesday in New Jersey and are 3-2-0 in their past five games, while the Wild are 1-7-1 in their last nine contests following a 5-3 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday. The game is extremely important for both teams--the Rangers looking to hold on to second place in the Metropolitan Division while just two points ahead of the ninth-place Devils in the Eastern Conference standings, and the Wild just one point out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. New York will be missing two key players Thursday as Rick Nash is joined on the sidelines by Kevin Klein, who suffered a fractured thumb against the Devils and is out indefinitely. Nash will miss his fourth straight game with a bone bruise in his left leg. Klein will be replaced by rookie Dylan McIlrath in the lineup, while the same group of 12 forwards remain in for the Rangers while Nash gets healthy. The Rangers top line the past two games has featured Derick Brassard centering J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast. Brassard has six points (2-4-6) in his last two matches, while Miller has three goals in that span--and seven in his last seven games--and Fast has notched three assists in the past two games. More production is needed from throughout the rest of the lineup, however, and the Blueshirts must get better play out of their special teams-- with the struggles of both the power play and penalty killing units directly costing the Rangers Tuesday's game in New Jersey. The Rangers are just 2 for their last 39 on the power play, and on Tuesday their PK surrendered two goals on two opportunities. New York has used home ice to their distinct advantage this season with their 18 wins at The Garden tied with Washington for most at home in the Eastern Conference. Minnesota is coming off a road defeat in Brooklyn and is 1-4-1 in its last six road contests. Overall the Wild are under .500 at 9-10-6 on the road this season. Two other areas where the Wild have struggled this season: they are just 3-13-6 when surrendering the game's first goal and are 1-9 in overtime. Like the Rangers, Minnesota's specialty teams have been middle of the pack nearly all season. On the positive side Minnesota goaltender Devyn Dubnyk is tied for third in the league with four shutouts and is coming off his first All Star Game appearance, Charlie Coyle is on a career-best four-game goal-scoring streak, and Jason Pominville recorded the 600th point of his NHL career in Tuesday's game in Brooklyn.
Head To Head:
The Rangers and Wild will play Thursday night for the second and final time this season. Back on December 17 in Minnesota the Rangers dropped a 5-2 decision to the Wild, a game which saw Wild captain Mikko Koivu score twice and finish with three points. Antti Raanta started between the pipes for the Rangers and allowed the first goal scored by Koivu before being knocked out of the game when he took a slap shot square to the face mask. Raanta allowed the one goal on four shots and then Henrik Lundqvist finished up, surrendering four goals on 31 shots. Dominic Moore and Ryan McDonagh scored for New York in a contest the Rangers never led. McDonagh now has eight points (1-7-8) in seven career games against Minnesota. Despite that loss the Rangers have won four of their last six meetings with the Wild, and on home ice the Rangers have won four of their last five contests against the Wild. Three of the last four head-to-head meetings between these two teams have been decided by one goal, as have six of the last ten games played between the Rangers and Wild.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Dylan McIlrath: For the second time this season rookie defenseman Dylan McIlrath will get an extended run in the lineup. Back in December he appeared in 11 consecutive games when Kevin Klein was sidelined with an oblique injury, and now McIlrath draws back into the lineup on a regular basis because Klein has suffered a fractured right thumb. McIlrath proved to be a very steady and reliable defender when given his extended opportunity in December, playing 17 or more minutes in six of the contests. During that stretch McIlrath played with poise and confidence, and had a negative plus/minus rating just twice in the 11 games. He also scored his first NHL goal on December 15 against Edmonton at The Garden. Since then McIlrath has played in only three of 14 games, though he continued to play very well when called upon. The 6-foot-5 former first-round pick netted his second goal and was a +3 in those three games. Overall the 23 year-old McIlrath is a +5 with a team-high 42 penalty minutes while scoring two goals and totaling three points.
Wild-Mikko Koivu: The captain of the Wild scored a pair of goals and finished with three points the last time these two teams met back in December, but Mikko Koivu enters play Thursday struggling offensively. Koivu has gone 15 games without scoring a goal--last finding the back of the net twice on December 28 against the Red Wings--and he has just four points in that same span. Still Koivu leads the Wild with 35 points this season; and he tied for the team lead with 25 assists while he ranks second with four power play goals. Much of his best production came in the first two months of the season when Koivu recorded 20 points (4-16-20) in the season's first 17 games. He also had a four-game stretch in December where he notched nine points (4-5-9). It is no coincidence that since his production slowed down so has the success of a Wild team which has won only four times during Koivu's cold stretch the past 15 games.
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