Preview: Rangers Take on Golden Knights in Road Trip Finale

Michael Obernauer / NYRangers.com

RANGERS at GOLDEN KNIGHTS, 10 p.m.
MSG+, 1050 AM

With his Rangers looking to break out of their three-game skid, David Quinn made clear exactly where his focus lies: "The next day, and the next practice, and the next game. That's what we have to do."

"Everybody holds some sort of responsibility. That's something we've touched on," the bench boss said after his Blueshirts practiced in Las Vegas on Monday. "We've had some stretches like this where we've collected ourselves and stopped it - nothing maybe of this magnitude, with the scores, but we've gone through some tough stretches where we've responded.

"I fully anticipate us to respond tomorrow night. I really do."

That next game for the Rangers comes on Tuesday night on the Strip, closing out the season series with the Vegas Golden Knights, whose six wins in their last six games vaulted them into a tie with Calgary atop the Western Conference standings entering Monday night's games. Tuesday's game begins a stretch of four in six nights for the Blueshirts, all against teams that have heated up in the New Year: after visiting the defending Western Conference champs (winners of six straight), the Rangers return to the Garden to begin a home-and-home series with the Islanders (also winners of six straight) before heading out to Columbus (winners of seven of nine).

But the focus, as the head coach said, is on the next game, and for that one, the Rangers will have Alexandar Georgiev back in nets to take his second start of this three-game road trip. While the stat line from his last one may not look appealing to any goalie, it doesn't tell the story of how strongly the rookie played on Friday night in withstanding more than 14 minutes of Colorado power-play time over the first 28 minutes of the game. At the end of those 28 minutes, Georgiev had held the score at 2-0; he had 30 saves by second intermission and finished his night with a season-high 41.

What the Rangers will not have on Tuesday night, though, is Kevin Hayes, who will wind up missing all three games on the road trip with a nagging upper-body injury. Quinn had said on Sunday that "really it all depends on how he feels when he wakes up," but Hayes didn't feel good enough to join his team on the ice on Monday and will be a no-go against the Golden Knights.

Minus Hayes, the Rangers held a brief practice at T-Mobile Arena that mostly "was just to work on the mentality, get a sweat for 35 minutes, and work on our morale," Quinn said. "It wasn't too taxing, it was more of a get out here and play a little hockey, and get back in the locker room together and start building on our mentality and our togetherness for tomorrow night."

Both the coach and his players have noticed that morale quaver when the Rangers get behind in recent games. Opponents have scored the opening goal in four straight matches; prior to this three-game skid, however, the Blueshirts were 8-8-1 when the opponent scored first, among the top five records in the league.

In their last road game before this trip, the Rangers fell behind in St. Louis on Ryan O'Reilly's first-period goal, but Mats Zuccarello and Boo Nieves grabbed the next two and Henrik Lundqvist saw home a 2-1 win that completed a sweep of the trip through St. Louis and Nashville.

That's one reason Quinn said on Monday that "we're all frustrated with what's transpired over the last three games," adding: "With that being said, it was less than a week ago we came back from winning two games on the road. … One of the things we have to do a better job of is, when things are going bad, we need to stop it. We might go down 1-0 (Tuesday) night - what are you gonna do about it? Right now we're in this feel-sorry mode, and we can't let that creep in. We've got to work on our mentality and we've got to create a better mindset for (Tuesday) night."

"That's the way the season goes - there are going to be times that pucks are going in, when you're capitalizing on your scoring chances, and there are going to be times when they're not going in. But you can't change your game, you can't get away from the way you know you have to play to be successful," said Chris Kreider, the Rangers' leader with 20 goals. "It's something we talked about earlier in the year: It's hard to win on the road in this league. The good teams that do it, they dumb it down, they play simple."

The Golden Knights' recent surge comes in spite of a dry spell out of their top line: Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith have combined for three points - one each - during the team's six-game winning streak. (Smith was injured against the Devils and is a question mark for Tuesday.) Alex Tuch, meanwhile, has points in all six of those games to take over the team lead with 33 points, and first-year Knight Max Pacioretty is coming off quite a weekend: He scored the game-winning goals on Friday and Sunday while welcoming his fourth son into the world on Saturday.

Vegas has points in the last 11 games Marc-Andre Fleury has started (8-0-3), and the 34-year-old has started plenty this season: his 24 wins and 38 starts in his team's first 45 games both lead the NHL. Fleury is the only goaltender to have topped 2,000 minutes this season, and by a wide margin: he's at 2,257:40.
 
LINEUP LAST TIME OUT

20 Kreider - 93 Namestnikov - 17 Fast
36 Zuccarello - 72 Chytil - 16 Strome
90 Namestnikov - 21 Howden - 89 Buchnevich
8 McLeod - 24 Nieves - 26 Vesey

18 Staal - 44 Pionk
76 Skjei - 54 McQuaid
42 Smith - 22 Shattenkirk

40 Georgiev*
30 Lundqvist
*will start Tuesday

NUMBERS GAME

Alexandar Georgiev is 3-0-0 with a 1.44 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in his career against Pacific Division teams. Tuesday's will be 20th career start and first against the Golden Knights; Marc-Andre Fleury has played 60 games against the Rangers alone, his most against any team (32-18-9 record, 2.73 GAA, .909 save pct.).

Vegas has outscored opponents 47-32 in third periods this season, including 8-0 during their six-game winning streak. Malcolm Subban made 20 of his 38 saves in the third period of Sunday's win over New Jersey.

The Golden Knights' six-game winning streak is the second-longest in franchise history, which is a season and a half long. The longest is an eight-game run last season from Dec. 14-Jan. 2.

Jimmy Vesey will play in his 200th NHL game, all with the Rangers.

The Rangers are 5-0-0 on Tuesdays.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Blueshirts leading scorer Mika Zibanejad has goals in all three games the Rangers have played in their short history against Vegas, including a power-play strike in their meeting at the Garden on Dec. 16. He has five points overall against the Golden Knights (3-2-5).

Brandon Pirri, who played 60 games as a Ranger in 2016-17, was recalled to the Golden Knights from AHL Chicago on Monday when William Carrier was placed on injured reserve with an illness. Pirri has six goals and nine points in seven games with Vegas this season; he leads the AHL in scoring with 42 points in 29 games.

RANGERS AT FLYERS GAME DAY PREVIEW 4/7

RANGERS WRAP UP SEASON IN PHILADELPHIA

New York Rangers (34-38-9) @ Philadelphia Flyers (41-26-4)

TODAY 3:00 PM, NBC, WEPN

Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia PA

The Rangers wrap up their 2017-2018 season today in a Saturday afternoon matchup against the Flyers. The Rangers will have a chance to right a wrong that dates back to 2010 when the Flyers defeated the Rangers to eliminate them on the last day of the season. Today the tables are turned as the Flyers need 1 point to make the postseason. With a Rangers regulation win by 2 or more goals along with the Florida Panthers winning their two final games it would force a Flyers and Panthers elimination game with their season series split.

Yesterday the Rangers called up forwards Matt Beleskey and Steven Fogarty from Hartford. Beleskey was acquired in the Rick Nash trade with Boston and may make his Rangers debut today with Cody McLeod out with an abdominal strain. Fogarty may also make his Rangers debut as coach Alain Vigneault has not yet committed to his lineup which will be decided between himself and his coaches this morning. Henrik Lundqvist will get the start today for the Rangers.

This is the 4th and final meeting between New York and Philadelphia this season. The Rangers trail in the series 2-1 having won the first meeting 5-1 at MSG on January 16 but falling 7-4 on February 18 and 4-3 on March 22. Paul Carey, Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello, Peter Holland and Mika Zibanejad all have tallies against Philly this season. Jesper Fast who will not play today do to a groin injury leads the team with 2 goals against the Flyers. Henrik Lundqvist is 1-1 in the series while Alexandar Georgiev is 0-1, appearing in the last contest in Philadelphia.

TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 53

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 27

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 37

Flyers

POINTS: Claude Giroux 99

GOALS: Claude Giroux 31

ASSISTS: Claude Giroux 68

RANGERS AT ISLANDERS GAME DAY PREVIEW 4/5

RANGERSTOWN INVADES BROOKLYN

New York Rangers (34-37-9, 7th) at New York Islanders (33-37-10, 8th)

TONIGHT 7:99 PM, MSG, MSG+2, WEPN

Barclays Center: Brooklyn, NY

The Battle for 8th Place? Both the Rangers and Islanders faceoff tonight without playoff positioning on the line but with the teams separated by only 1 point in the standings it looks as though a chance at a draft lottery spot is on the line. The 7th place Metro Division Rangers who will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2004-2005 season lead the Islanders by one slim point with crosstown rivals Islanders having one less loss and the extra point due to one more overtime loss with 10 to the Rangers 9.

This is the fourth and final meeting between the Rangers and Islanders. The Isles lead the series three games to none (4-3 on October 19, 7-2 on December 13 & 3-0 on February 15). Kevin Hayes leads the Rangers with 2 goals against the Islanders, Mats Zuccarello, David Desharnais and Mika Zibanejad each have a goal in the three games. Henrik Lundqvist has two of the Rangers losses and Ondrej Pavelec one and was pulled in his last start against the Isles surrendering 5 goals on 19 shots back on January 13th’s 7-2 loss at MSG.

Pavelec will get the start tonight for the Rangers while Lundqvist will get the nod for the final game of the season in Philadelphia on Saturday. Mats Zuccarello who missed the last game in New Jersey due to lower body bruising should make his return tonight depending on his pain threshold. Zuccarello did participate in a full practice yesterday and said he will be available if the Rangers deem he is needed for the game tonight. The Blueshirts will still be without Jesper Fast who suffered a groin injury in the game against Carolina. Cody McLeod who suffered an abdominal pain and was a late scratch in New Jersey is questionable for tonight in Brooklyn.

At yesterday's Practice Alain Vigneault deployed the Lines of: Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Spooner - Jimmy Vesey, Filip Chytil, Mats Zuccarello - Vlad Namestnikov, Kevin Hayes, Pavel Buchnevich - Peter Holland, Lias Andersson, Paul Carey. On defense, Marc Staal was paired with Neal Pionk, Brady Skjei with Ryan Sproul and John Gilmour with Rob O'Gara.

TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 52

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 27

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 36

Islanders

POINTS: John Tavares 83

GOALS: Anders Lee 39

ASSISTS: Mathew Barzal 60

RANGERS AT DEVILS GAME DAY PREVIEW 4/3

RANGERS FACE DEVILS, GRABNER FOR FIRST TIME SINCE DEADLINE

New York Rangers (34-37-8) at New Jersey Devils (42-28-9)

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, MSG+, MSG2, WEPN

Prudential Center Newark, NJ

Coming off a 2-1 home win at the Garden on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes the Rangers enter their first of three final games of the season tonight in New Jersey. The Rangers could possibly help the Florida Panthers who trail the Devils by five points for he last Wild Card spot in the East with a win tonight. The Rangers will also faceoff against a familiar face for the first time, Speedy Winger Michael Grabner who was traded from New York to the Devils at the NHL Trade Deadline for a prospect and a draft pick.

Tonight is the fourth and final meeting of the season for the Rangers and Devils. In prior meetings the Rangers have won only one game, a 5-2 win at the Garden on December 9. The Blueshirts have lost 3-2 on home ice on October 14 and dropped the last contest in New Jersey 4-3 in the shootout on December 21. Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello and Jimmy Vesey each have 2 goals, Kevin Shattenkirk and Jesper Fast each have a tally against New Jersey in the three games. Ondrej Pavelec is 0-1 against the Devils this season, Henrik Lundqvist is 1-1 stopping a combined 70 shots in those 2 games, 48 of those in the shootout loss.

The Rangers will be without surging winger Jesper Fast who was announced to have a groin injury yesterday. Fast will miss the final three games of the season. The will also be without Mats Zuccarello who is heading for an MRI after experiencing lower body discomfort after blocking shots in the last few games. Alain Vigneault commented that both players were having a tough time walking right now and was not counting on either to be available tonight.

The Metro Division 5th Place Devils have won 5 of their last 7 games including a 2-1 win on Sunday in Montreal. Taylor Hall leads the team in all categories with 37 goals, 52 assists for 89 points.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 51

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 27

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 35

Devils

POINTS: Taylor Hall 89

GOALS: Taylor Hall 37

ASSISTS: Taylor Hall 52

RANGERS AT HURRICANES GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/31

RANGERS IN CAROLINA LOOKING TO PICK UP THE PIECES

New York Rangers (33-37-8) vs Carolina Hurricanes (35-22-11)

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, MSG2, WEPN

PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC

Coming off a disappointing 7-3 loss in the final home game of the 2017-2018 Season Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers will look to sweep the season series against the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in Raleigh.

Tonight is the fourth and final meeting between the Rangers and Hurricanes. The Rangers lead the series 3-0. The Rangers already have won here in Raleigh back on November 22, 6-1 and have two wins on Garden Ice, 5-1 on December 1 and a 6-3 win earlier this month on March 12. In the previous contest Jimmy Vesey tallied his first career NHL Hat Trick. Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello and Jesper Fast all have two tallies in the previous three games against the Canees. Rookie Alexandar Georgiev picked up the last win at MSG, Henrik Lundqvist who starts tonight has a win at the Garden and a win here in Raleigh.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 51

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 27

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 35

Hurricanes

POINTS: Sebastian Aho 63

GOALS: Sebastian Aho 27

ASSISTS: Teuvo Teravainen 38

RANGERS VS LIGHTNING GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/30

RANGERS WRAP UP HOME SEASON AGAINST TAMPA

New York Rangers (33-36-8) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (55-22-4)

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, MSG, WEPN

Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

Tonight the Rangers close out their 2017-2018 Home Ice Season against some familiar faces. Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller return to MSG for the first time since the deadline trade that sent them to Tampa Bay. The Rangers will also see former teammates Dan Girardi and Anton

Stralman.

Along with the reunion of sorts, tonight is the Rangers Annual Steven MacDonald Award presentation for the Rangers that gives the Extra Effort during the season as voted by the fans along with the final home game tradition of the Blueshirts off our backs following the game.

This is the third and final meeting between the Rangers and Lightning and the first at MSG. The series is split with one win each. The Rangers won the first contest 2-1 in overtime on November 2nd and dropped the last meeting 5-3 on March 8th. Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Hayes and Ryan Spooner each have tally against the Bolts. Henrik Lundqvist is 1-1 this season against Tampa and was pulled from the previous contest in the second period after surrendering 4 goals on 3 shots.

The Rangers are looking for their first win in the last six games. The Blueshirts have not picked up two pints in the standings since a 4-3 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 14th and have only gained two points from overtime losses to St Louis on St Patrick's Day and against Washington this past Thursday.

The Lightning who lost 4-2 to Boston last night trails those same Bruins by one point for the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference first place positions 107-106. Goals and points team leader Nikita Kucherov is three points shy of a 100 point season.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 51

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 27

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 35

Lightning

POINTS: Nikita Kucherov 97

GOALS: Nikita Kucherov 38

ASSISTS: Steven Stamkos 59

RANGERS VS CAPITALS GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/26

RANGERS FACE CAPITALS IN FIRST OF HOME AND HOME MATCHUP

New York Rangers (33-34-8) vs Washington Capitals (44-24-7)

TONIGHT 7:30 PM, NBCSN, WEPN

Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

The Rangers and Capitals meet for the first of a home and home matchup tonight at Madison Square Garden and meeting for the fourth and final time in Washington on Wednesday.

New York Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton announced yesterday that the team has recalled forwards Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League. The Rangers have not yet announced if Andersson or Chytil will be in the lineup for tonight’s game.

The Rangers come into tonight’s contest after a 5-1 win Saturday Night against the Buffalo Sabres. Jimmy Vesey scored two goals in the win, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Neal Pionk each tallied a goal and an assist in the contest. Alexandar Georgiev picked up the win with a personal season high 43 saves against Buffalo including 21 shots in the first period.

This is the third of four meetings between the Rangers and Capitals. So far the season series is split 1-1 with both teams winning on home ice. The Capitals won the first contest in Washington 4-2 on December 6 and the Rangers the second at MSG 1-0 on December 27 in the shootout. Henrik Lundqvist suffered the loss in Washington but stopped 40 of 44 shots on goal. Ondrej Pavelec picked up the home shutout win stopping all 30 shots that he faced not including all 3 shooters he faced in the shootout. Jesper Fast has a goal in the series. Mats Zuccarello scored in the shootout to give the Rangers the win on December 27.

The Metro Division First Place Capitals enter tonight’s game after a 6-4 win in Montreal Saturday Night and having lost only one game in their last five. Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin leads the team with 44 goals and 81 points, Evgeny Kuznetsov leads in assists with 50.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 50

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 27

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 35

Capitals

POINTS: Alex Ovechkin 81

GOALS: Alex Ovechkin 44

ASSISTS: Evgeny Kuznetsov 50

RANGERS VS SABRES GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/24

RANGERS LOOK TO SWEEP SEASON SERIES WITH SABRES

New York Rangers (32-34-8) vs Buffalo Sabres (23-39-12)

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, MSG, MSGB, WEPN

Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

Game 74 of the Rangers 2017-2018 Season takes place tonight at Madison Square Garden as they take on the Buffalo Sabres. With 8 games remaining in the regular season the Rangers look to bounce back after a hard fought 4-3 loss to the Flyers on Thursday.

This is the third and final meeting of the season between the Rangers and Sabres. The Rangers have won both meetings, January 1 in the NHL’s Annual Winter Classic at Citi Field 3-2 in Overtime and at MSG on January 18 4-3. Pavel Buchnevich and Paul Carey both have tallies against Buffalo in the two games while Henrik Lundqvist who started both games against Sabres’ Robin Lehner has a combined 70 saves with 5 goals against.

Henrik Lundqvist who did participate in yesterday’s practice will not dress for tonight’s contest as he continues to deal with neck and back issues. Alexandar Georgiev will once again get the start between the twine for the Rangers. David Desharnais may likely be a healthy scratch with Peter Holland returning to the lineup after skating as an extra defenseman with Kevin Shattenkirk at Friday’s skate.

The Rangers have registered at least three goals in each of the last seven games and in 10 of the last 11 games and have tallied three or more goals in 42 of 74 games in 2017-18.

The Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Jesper Fast line has registered 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) over the last four games. Zibanejad currently has a four game goals streak and a six game points streak, Fast has a seven game scoring streak in effect while Kreider has a four game point streak of his own. Both Zibanejad with 26  and Fast with 13 have established new career highs in goals scored.

Neal Pionk extended his assist/point streak to six games with eight assists and has tallied 11 assists/points in the last 11 games. He leads NHL rookie defensemen in assists with 12 and points also 12 since he made his NHL debut on February 9.

Buffalo comes into tonight’s contest 8th in the Atlantic Division and having lost last night 3-0 to the Red Wings at home. The struggling Sabres have only won one game in their last five contests. Jack Eichel leads the team in points with 54 and goals with 22 on the season.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 49

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 26

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 34

Sabres

POINTS: Jack Eichel 54

GOALS: Jack Eichel 22

ASSISTS: Ryan O'Reilly 32

RANGERS AT FLYERS GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/22

NO BROTHERLY LOVE, RANGERS VISIT PHILADELPHIA

New York Rangers (32-33-8) vs Philadelphia Flyers (37-25-12)

TONIGHT  PM, MSG, WEPN

Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia, PA

Tonight the Rangers look to end a two game skid as they face the Philadelphia Flyers. In the third of four meetings this season, both teams have won one of the previous two contests at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers defeated Philadelphia 5-1 on January 16 but fell by the score of 7-4 in the second game on February 18. Henrik Lundqvist started both games surrendering 8 goals on a combined 63 shots. Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello and Paul Carey all have tallies against Philadelphia this season.

Alexandar Georgiev will get the start for the Rangers tonight in Philly. Ondrej Pavelec will make his return from a knee injury as backup to Georgiev. Henrik Lundqvist will be a scratch as he deals with minor injuries (neck/back) stemming from a nasty collision Tuesday night against Columbus.

If yesterday's practice is any indication of tonight’s line pairings, the Rangers first line of Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast will remain intact along with the fourth line of Cody McLeod, David Desharnais and Paul Carey. Vlad Namestnikov moves to the wing alongside Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Spooner takes over the center position between Jimmy Vesey and Pavel Buchnevich. The Rangers defense remains the same.

The Flyers who are battling with Columbus for fourth place in the Metro lost their last game to Detroit on Tuesday 5-4 and have only won one of their previous five games. Flyers Captain Claude Giroux leads the team in points with 87 and in assists with 61. Sean Couturier holds the team lead in goals with 30.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 49

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 25

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 34

Flyers

POINTS: Claude Giroux 87

GOALS: Sean Couturier 30

ASSISTS: Claude Giroux 61

RANGERS VS BLUE JACKETS GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/20

RANGERS HOST COLUMBUS IN DIVISION MATCHUP

New York Rangers (32-32-8) vs Columbus Blue Jackets (40-28-5)

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, MSG, WEPN

Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

Henrik Lundqvist returns to the Rangers lineup tonight to face the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Garden. After three games off in favor of rookie backup Alexandar Georgiev, Lundqvist will finally return to man the Rangers crease. Lundqvist who has not started a game since March 10 against the Panthers has lost his last three starts and was pulled in Tampa Bay after allowing 4 goals.

The rest of the Rangers lineup is expected to remain the same as the previous two. The line of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Jesper Fast has tallied six goals and six assists and that have scored six of the seven Ranger goals in the last two games. Zibanejad has four goals in the last two and has taken over the Rangers scoring lead with 24 on the season.

With ten games remaining in the regular season and 72 points in the standings the Rangers sit in 7th place in the Metro, 2 points ahead of the Islanders and 10 points behind New Jersey who holds the final wild card spot in the East.

This is the fourth and final meeting between the Rangers and Blue Jackets. Columbus leads the season series 2-1 with wins on October 13, 3-1 and 2-0 on November 17 both coming in Columbus. The Rangers won the only game at Madison Square Garden 5-3 on November 6. Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich each have a goal in the series while Henrik Lundqvist has stopped 109 of 117 shots on goal. Lundqvist and Sergei Bobrovsky have both have started all 3 games and have faceoffed in the same game 16 times in their NHL careers. In those 16 contests, Lundqvist has posted a 10-5-1 record, along with a 2.30 GAA, a .928 SV%, and 1 SO.

The Metro Division 4th Place Jackets currently hold the first wild card playoff spot in the East with 85 points, tied in points with Philadelphia but ahead due to one more regulation win and 3 ahead of New Jersey. This is the second of back to back games for Columbus as they come in having defeated Boston last night 5-4 in overtime extending their win streak to eight games. Artemi Panarin leads the team with 22 goals and 42 assists for 64 points.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 49

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 24

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 34

Blue Jackets

POINTS: Artemi Panarin 64

GOALS: Artemi Panarin 22

ASSISTS: Artemi Panarin 42

RANGERS AT BLUES GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/17

RANGERS LOOK TO EVEN SEASON SERIES IN ST LOUIS

New York Rangers (32-32-7) vs St Louis Blues (37-28-5)

TONIGHT 8:00 PM, MSG, WEPN

Scottrade Center St Louis, MO

Tonight rookie goaltender Alexandar Georgiev will once again lead the Rangers onto the ice in his third straight start. Alain Vigneault will obviously go with the hot hand as Georgiev comes into the contest having won his last two starts. Georgiev stopped a career high 44 shots against Carolina and 40 in the game against Pittsburgh.

The Rangers come in on a two game win streak having defeated Carolina 6-3 on Monday and in overtime over Pittsburgh 4-3 on Wednesday. Although currently last in the Metro Division the Rangers with 71 points with 11 games left including tonight are 9 points out of the final wild card spot held by New Jersey with 80. The Islanders trail the Rangers by 1 point while Carolina also with 71 points is ahead due to a game in hand. Florida is the closest behind New Jersey with 77 points.

In their previous game against Pittsburgh, Chris Kreider led the team with four points (goal & 3 assists), Mika Zibanejad tallied 2 goals including the game winner in overtime and rookie D-Man Neal Pionk picked up 3 assists.

This is the second and final meeting between New York and St Louis. In the first contest the Blues took the game 3-1 on October 10. Mika Zibanejad scored the lone goal for the Rangers and Henrik lundqvist stopped 22 of 24 shots on goal.

The Blues currently hold 6th place in the Central Division with 70 points are also on the outside looking in on a playoff berth trailing Dallas for the last wild card spot in the Western conference by 5 points. Brayden Schenn leads the team with 34 assists and 58 points, Vladislav Namestnikov has the Blues lead in goals with 22. St Louis lost their previous game at home Thursday 4-1 to Colorado and have have lost 3 of their last 5 games.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 48

GOALS: Vladislav Namestnikov 22

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 34

Blues

POINTS: Brayden Schenn 58

GOALS: Vladimir Tarasenko 27

ASSISTS: Brayden Schenn 34

RANGERS VS PENGUINS GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/14

WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIVALRY RANGERS HOST PENGUINS

New York Rangers (31-32-7) vs Pittsburgh Penguins (40-26-4)

TONIGHT 8:00 PM, NBCSN, WEPN

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY

Coming off a 6-3 win on Monday over the Carolina Hurricanes the Rangers once again open the doors to Madison Square Garden. Tonight the Rangers take on the Metro Division 2nd Place Pittsburgh Penguins for the fourth and final time this season.

Rookie goaltender Alexandar Georgiev is once more slated to get the start, his first career game against Pittsburgh. Georgiev is coming off a 41 save performance where he picked up his first home win on Monday.

The Rangers yesterday recalled defenseman Ryan Sproul to replace the injured Anthony DeAngelo who was tripped into the boards on Monday night and injured his left ankle and was to undergo an MRI yesterday.

Kevin Shattenkirk who was on the road to recovery from knee surgery suffered a minor setback, forcing him to hold off on skating for a few days.

The Rangers and Penguins have faced off three times this season. The Pens lead the series two games to one having taken the first matchup 5-4 in overtime on October 17 at MSG and the third in Pittsburgh 5-2 on January 14. The Rangers defeated the Pens in Pittsburgh 4-3 on December 5. Pavel Buchnevich Leads current Rangers with 2 goals against Pittsburgh while Mats Zuccarello has 1 tally. Henrik Lundqvist suffered both losses, injured Ondrej Pavelec has the only win this season over the Pens.

Pittsburgh who currently is in 2nd place in the Metro last played Monday and defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1. The Penguins have won 4 of their last 5 games losing to Toronto 5-2 on Sunday. Evgeni Malkin leads the team with 39 goals and 87 points.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 48

GOALS: Vladislav Namestnikov 22

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 34

Penguins

POINTS: Evgeni Malkin 87

GOALS: Evgeni Malkin 39

ASSISTS: Sidney Crosby 53

RANGERS VS HURRICANES GAME DAY PREVIEW 3/12

RANGERS RETURN HOME TO HOST HURRICANES

New York Rangers (30-32-7) vs Carolina Hurricanes (30-27-11)

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, MSG, WEPN

Madison Square Garden New York City, NY

Tonight the Rangers return home after an uneventful road trip to Florida losing 5-3 to Tampa Bay and 4-3 in a shootout loss to the Panthers. The Rangers did pick up a point in the loss to Florida but did not gain any ground in the standings as they still sit outside the last wild card spot 10 points behind  Columbus who has 77 points. The Rangers have 13 games remaining in the regular season including tonight's contest.

Tonight is the third and final meeting between the Rangers and Canes The Rangers hold a 2-0 lead in the series having won in Carolina on November 22 by the score of 6-1 and a win on Garden ice 5-1 on December 1. Henrik Lundqvist earned both wins with 33 saves in each contest. Of the current New York roster Chris Kreider leads the team with 2 goals over Carolina while Mika Zibanejad,Jesper Fast, David Desharnais and Paul Carey all have registered a goal each.

Metro Division 6th place Carolina currently sits 4 points ahead of the Rangers with 71 points, just 6 points behind in the wild card race. Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes with 24 goals, Teuvo Teravainen leads in assists with 34 and in points with 53.

GAME DAY TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Vladislav Namestnikov, Mats Zuccarello 46

GOALS: Vladislav Namestnikov 21

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 34

Hurricanes

POINTS: Teuvo Teravainen 53

GOALS: Sebastian Aho 24

ASSISTS: Teuvo Teravainen 34