New York Rangers: Trouble looming in Calgary

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 21: Garnet Hathaway #21 of the Calgary Flames skates with the puck against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 21, 2018 in New York City. The Calgary Flames won 4-1. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)

Information you should know

About the Rangers
- The word is that Henrik Lundqvist will get the start in Calgary with Georgiev starting in Minnesota.
- No word on rescinding the match penalty to Brendan Lemieux. Chris Kreider drew a $5,000 fine from the league for his elbow to the head of Elias Pettersson.
- The Rangers have lost eight out of their last nine games, though they have gotten points in five of the eight losses by getting to overtime.
- Although the Rangers scored on the power play versus Vancouver, it was their first PP goal in eight games and came right after an absolutely impotent two man advantage.
- The Rangers have allowed one power play goal in each of the last three games, after not allowing a power play goal in four games.
- If the Rangers lose to the Flames, they will have a losing record against Pacific Division teams. The last time that happened was in 2013-14.
- If the Rangers lose to the Flames and Vancouver can beat the Devils, the Rangers will drop to sixth worst in the NHL. It’s a big game for the lottery standings.
- It’s Brendan Lemieux’s birthday. He is 23-years old.
- The Rangers announced that they had signed undrafted free agent Jake Elmer. He’s a 20-year old righty shooter who had a great season in Lethbridge in the WHL. He scored 38 goals and had 78 points in 66 games. He played wing with Dylan Cozens, one of the projected top 2019 draft picks.
About the Flames
- The Flames are on a two game winning streak. Prior to that they had lost four in a row to Minnesota, Vegas, Arizona and Toronto.
- In their last game they absolutely drubbed the Devils, 9-4. They went into the third period trailing 4-3, but scored six unanswered goals.
- The Flames went four games (all losses) scoring five goals. In the their last two games they have scored 15 goals.
- The Flames are healthy. The only player out with an injury is James Neal who has missed 14 games with an upper body injury.
- David Rittich is expected to start the game in goal for Calgary.
- Johnny Gaudreau has four goals and eight points in nine career games against the Rangers. With 90 points he has 12 games left to hit the 100 point mark for the first time.
- The Flames made no moves at the trade deadline.
- The Flames have three players with 30 goals or more (Gaudreau, Monahan and Tkachuk) and three players who are averaging more than a point per game (Gaudreau, Monahan and Lindholm).
- Head to head
  - The Flames beat the Rangers 4-1 in October. The Rangers poured 45 shots on the Flames net, but could only score once. Johnny Gaudreau and Garnet Hathaway each had two goals for the Flames.
  - In that game, David Rittich made 44 saves, the most of his career, allowing only one goal to Mika Zibanejad.