RANGERS VS DEVILS GAME DAY PREVIEW 12/9

RANGERS FINISH BACK TO BACK WEEKEND VS NEW JERSEY

New York Rangers (15-11-2) vs New Jersey Devils (16-8-4)

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, TV: MSG+, MSG2 RADIO: WEPN 98.7

Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

Both the Rangers and New Jersey Devils come into tonight’s contest after losses last night, the Rangers losing 4-2 in Washington and New Jersey losing at home 5-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Tonight is the second of four meetings between the two teams. The Devils defeated the Rangers 3-2 in the first meeting of the season back on October 14th. Rick Nash and Kevin Shattenkirk scored the goals for New York.

No confirmation on the Rangers lineup hs yet been made. Henrik Lundqvist who returned from the flu last night against Washington stopped 37 of 40 shots on goal and would be the obvious choice to get the start again although backup Ondrej Pavelec had a phenomenal game against Pittsburgh last Tuesday stopping 41 shots in the Rangers 4-3 win over the Penguins.

TEAM LEADERS

Rangers:

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 22

GOALS: Michael Grabner 14

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 17

Devils

POINTS: Taylor Hall 29

GOALS: Brian Gibbons 11

ASSISTS: Taylor Hall 20

Rangers Projected Lineup vs New Jersey

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 (unconfirmed)

Backup

Ondrej Pavelec

Scratched: Steven Kampfer

Injuries: Mika Zibanejad (concussion symptoms)