RANGERS VS AVALANCHE GAME DAY PREVIEW 10/16

RANGERS END HOMESTAND VS AVALANCHE LOOKING FOR OFFENSE

New York Rangers (1-4-0) v Colorado Avalanche (3-1-1)

Madison Square Garden, NYC

TV: MSG, ALT Radio: ESPN NY 98.7 FM

The Rangers come in off another offensive struggle on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers with only a goal from Mika Zibanejad after a 4 goal game on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks.

Looking for the right combination and ice time for rookie Filip Chytil itseems as though coach Quinn will sit right ringer Pavel Buchnevich as a healthy scratch tonight at MSG. Buchnevich saw no ice time with just under 9 minutes remaining in regulation during Saturday's loss. Having been moved to the left side from his normal right, Buchnevich clearly struggled among an anemic Rangers offense,
Buchnevish rotated as the second with Cody McLeod on the 4th line in practice yesterday alongside Ryan Spooner and Vlad Namestnikov.

The Defense remains the same with Shattenkirk back in and Tony DeAngelo and Adam McQuaid as the healthy scratches,

Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 25 shots against Edmonton and 4 against San Jose, has a 2.03 goals-against average, is expected to start for the Rangers.

Colorado comes in starting a 4 game road trip and having lost their previous game to Calgary 3-2 in overtime, a game where they held a two-goal lead and were outshot 31-9 after the opening period.

The Avs are led by Nathan MacKinnon who scored his sixth goal in five games.

Colorado is off to a 3-1-1 start and are heading into a trip that will take them through New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia in the next seven days.

Semyon Varlamov is expected to start for the Avalanche. He is 3-0-1 with a 1.75 goals-against average.

This is the first meeting of two between the Rangers and Avs. Last seaon the Avalanche swept the series for the first time since the 2010-11 season with a win at MSG 4-2 and a win in Colorado 3-1.

RANGERS PROBABLE LINEUP VS AVS
FORWARDS:

Chytil-Hayes-Zuccarello

Kreider-Zibanejad-Fast

Vesey-Howden-Namestnikov
McLeod-Spooner-Lettieri

DEFENSE:

Skjei-Pionk

Staal-Smith

Claesson-Shattenkirk

STARTER:
Lundqvist

BACKUP:
Georgiev

PP1: Shattenkirk, Zibanejad, Zuccarello, Kreider, Spooner


PP2: Skjei/Pionk (rotating), Hayes, Chytil, Vesey, Howden

SCRATCHES:

DeAngelo-McQuaid-Buchnevich

INJURIES:
Beleskey (shoulder,Beleskey was on the ice yesterday during drills in a non-contact jersey) - Nieves (concussion protocol)