RANGERS VS PANTHERS GAME DAY PREVIEW 10/23:

Rangers End Home Stand Looking for the Elusive Win vs Struggling Panthers

New York Rangers (2-5-1) vs Florida Panthers (1-2-3)

Madison Square Garden, NYC ..... TONIGHT 7:00 PM

TV: MSG, FSFL RADIO: ESPN-NY 98.7 FM

Both teams come into tonight's contest having lost their previous recent games. The Rangers dropped a 4-1 decision to the visiting Calgary Flames on Sunday night. The host Panthers fell to the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3, in overtime on Saturday night.

The Rangers, thwarted by Calgary backup David Rittich on Sunday with a 44 save performance with only Mika Zibanejad finding the back of the net while on the power play are still looking to solve their spotty goal scoring. The Rangers are getting chances but just can't seem to finish to turn those chances into goals and therefore points in the standings.

The Rangers (2-5-1), who have one regulation/overtime win, but the Panthers (1-2-3), have yet to win outside of the shootout.

Alexandar Georgiev, returning from a stint in Hartford this weekend will get the start tonight for the Blueshirts.

Michael Hutchinson, who has been splitting time in net for the Panthers with James Reimer while starter Roberto Luongo recovers from a knee injury, will start for Florida.

At Rangers practice on Monday, the lines being used were:

Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccarello
Filip Chytil, Kevin Hayes, Jesper Fast
Jimmy Vesey, Brett Howden, Pavel Buchnevich
Cody McLeod, Vlad Namestnikov, Ryan Spooner

Freddy Claesson, Tony DeAngelo and Vinni Lettieri skated as the extras.

On defense, the pairs are Brady Skjei and Adam McQuaid, Marc Staal and Neal Pionk, Brendan Smith and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Boo Nieves skated in a non-contact jersey.

Following practice the Rangers announced that defenseman Freddie Claesson will miss the next 2-3 weeks due to an upper body injury.

This is the first of 3 games this season that The Rangers and Panthers will face off.  Last season the Panthers took the season series 3-0, winning on November 4 in Florida 5-4, again on Novenber 28 another 5-4 decision at MSG and a 4-3 Win in Florida on MArch 10.

ALL-TIME RECORD
Overall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51-32-6-6 (114 pts)
Home Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-15-4-2 (58 pts)
Road Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25-17-2-4 (56 pts)
Goals For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Goals Against. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Shutouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, last – 3/22/2011 (1-0, Lundqvist)
Last Ranger Win at MSG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3/21/2016 (4-2)
Last Panther Win at MSG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3/10/2018 (4-3)