TWO GAME ROAD TRIP TONIGHT IN TAMPA BAY
New York Rangers (30-31-6) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (46-17-4)
TONIGHT 7:30 PM, MSG, SUN-S, WEPN
Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay, FL
Coming off a 3-0 shutout loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday the Rangers hit the road and head South to Florida for a two game road trip. Prior to the loss the Rangers were on a three game win streak after wins over Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. With 15 games remaining on the schedule the Rangers (66 points) are seven points out of the final wild card spot held by Columbus (73 points).
This is the first meeting since the trade deadline which saw J.T. Miller and Ryan McDonagh head to Tampa and Vladislav Namestnikov come to New York. Miller who already has a few games under his belt with the Bolts will face his old team for the first time. McDonagh is still out with an abdominal strain but just days away from returning.
Tonight is the second and final meeting of the regular season between the Rangers and Lightning. In the first contest at MSG on November 2 the Blueshirts squeaked out a 2-1 overtime win which saw former Rangers and now Tampa Bay Lightning JT Miller score the winner for New York. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 28 shots in the contest and counterpart Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 35. Chris Kreider and Yanni Gourde scored the regulation tallies to set up overtime.
Tampa Bay who currently holds first place in the Atlantic Division and first overall in the NHL with 96 points comes into the contest on three game winning streak. Nikita Kucherov leads the team in points (85), goals (33) and assists (52).
GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS
Rangers
POINTS: Vladislav Namestnikov 46
GOALS: Vladislav Namestnikov 21
ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 34
Lightning
POINTS: Nikita Kucherov 85
GOALS: Nikita Kucherov 33
ASSISTS: Nikita Kucherov 52
Rangers Projected Lineup vs Lightning
Kreider - Zibanejad - Buchnevich
Vesey - Namestnikov - Zuccarello
Spooner - Hayes - Fast
McLeod - Desharnais - Carey
Staal - Pionk
Skjei - Gilmour
O’Gara - DeAngelo
Lundqvist
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