RANGERS VS CAPITALS GAME DAY PREVIEW 12/8

METRO DIVISION SHOWDOWN IN WASHINGTON

New York Rangers (15-10-2) vs Washington Capitals (17-11-1)

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, TV: MSG RADIO: WEPN 98.7

Capital One Arena, Washington, DC

The Rangers face the Capitals for the first of four meetings this season tonight in DC. The Rangers and Caps will face off again later this month at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers are coming off a hard fought 4-3 win in Pittsburgh which saw backup Ondrej Pavelec, in for the under the weather Henrik Lundqvist, stop 41 of 44 shots faced.

In just their third game in the past 7 days this will also be the third of four games against a Metro Division Rival. The Rangers defeated the Hurricanes on December 1st by the score of 5-1. Now they look took take another huge two points from within the Metro tonight before returning home to face the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night at MSG.

Henrik Lundqvist who missed the game in Pittsburgh with flu symptoms practiced yesterday and says he is good to go for the game tonight. Alain Vigneault commented that Lundqvist will skate this morning and a decision will be made afterwards. But as of now it looks as though Lundqvist will get the nod in net for New York.

The rest of the Rangers lineup will remain the same along with forward lines and defensive pairings remaining intact. The only scratch will once again be defenseman Steven Kampfer.

The Rangers will also still be without the services of number one center Mika Zibanejad who will miss his fourth straight game with concussion symptoms. Even without Zibanejad his line continues to produce with David Desharnais as the center. In four games the line has tallied 13 points overall, Chris Kreider: 2 goals, 2 assists, Desharnais: 1 goals, 4 assists and Pavel Buchnevich: 2 goals, 2 assists.

The Capitals come in with back to back wins against the Sharks, 4-1 on Monday and a 6-2 win over the Blackhawks on Wednesday.

TEAM LEADERS

Rangers:

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 22

GOALS: Michael Grabner 13

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 17

Capitals

POINTS: Alex Ovechkin 32

GOALS: Alex Ovechkin 21

ASSISTS: Evgeny Kuznetsov 21

Rangers Projected Lineup vs Washington

Forwards
Chris Kreider - David Desharnais - Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey - Kevin Hayes - Rick Nash
Michael Grabner - J.T. Miller - Mats Zuccarello
Paul Carey - Boo Nieves - Jesper Fast

Defense
Ryan McDonagh - Nick Holden
Brady Skjei - Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal - Brendan Smith

Starter

Henrik Lundqvist

Backup

Ondrej Pavelec

Scratched: Steven Kampfer

Injuries: Mika Zibanejad (concussion symptoms)