The New York Rangers have yet to win three games in a row this season. They go for it tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes in a key Metropolitan Division match up at Madison Square Garden.
Almost three weeks ago, the New York Rangers walked into the PNC Arena in Raleigh and found themselves thoroughly outplayed and overmatched. The Hurricanes dominated everywhere except where it really counts, on the scoreboard. Henrik Lundqvist gets full credit for stealing that victory as he stopped 45 of 47 shots in his best game of the year.
The Blueshirts and their fans are hoping that history will repeat itself as Lundqvist gets the nod in goal tonight. It’s his 1,000th appearance for the Blueshirts (including playoffs). In his career, he is 31-12-1 against Carolina and his lifetime 1.98 goals against average against them is his second lowest (best is Detroit at 1.95).
The Rangers are seeking to win three games in a row for the first time this season. They also wouldn’t mind seeing the Blueshirts start a Madison Square Garden winning streak against the Hurricanes. They had won 16 games in a row on Garden ice before being shut out in the last meeting between the teams last season.
Even more important is that tonight marks the return of Mika Zibanejad to the lineup after missing 13 games with the proverbial upper body injury that was listed as a neck injury, but was probably a concussion. The team badly needs Zibanejad, especially on the penalty kill and his return strengthens the team’s depth.
His return will see the reunion of the KZB line from last season as he will team with Pavel Buchnevich and Chris Kreider. The line of Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome and Jesper Fast remains intact and Filip Chytil will form a new threesome with Brendan Lemieux and Kaapo Kakko. Greg McKegg remains out with a lower body injury so the fourth line will be centered by Brett Howden with Boo Nieves and Brendan Smith on his wings.
Defense pairings will remain the same as last game as the Jacob Trouba–Brady Skjei twosome is gaining traction.
The Canes have a 15-8-1 record and are on a two game winning streak. They haven’t played since Sunday when they shut out the Detroit Red Wings 2-0.
Petr Mrazek has faced the Rangers only five times with a 3-2 record, a .888 save percentage and a 2.81 GAA. He was in net for the first match up between these teams.
Projected Lineups
New York Rangers
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 17 Fast
48 Lemieux – 72 Chytil – 24 Kakko
15 Nieves – 21 Howden – 42 Smith
76 Skjei – 8 Trouba
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
25 Hajek – 77 DeAngelo
30 Lundqvist
40 Georgiev
Carolina Hurricanes
37 Andrei Svechnikov – 20 Sebastian Aho – 86 Teuvo Teravainen
21 Nino Niederreiter – 11 Jordan Staal – 13 Warren Foegele
18 Ryan Dzingel – 71 Lucas Wallmark – 88 Martin Necas
23 Brock McGinn – 43 Eetu Luostarinen – 48 Jordan Martinook
74 Jaccob Slavin – 19 Dougie Hamilton
6 Joel Edmundson – 22 Brett Pesce
51 Jake Gardiner – 4 Haydn Fleury
34 Petr Mrazek
47 James Reimer
Healthy scratch: Trevor van Riemsdyk
Injured: Erik Haula (knee injury)
Join the live conversation
The live thread is open….now. There’s lots to talk about when it comes to the comeback kids.
The game will be televised on MSG+ and radio will be on ESPN 1050AM. The Rangers next play on Friday afternoon in Boston on national television as part of the NHL Thanksgiving Showdown. Mika Zibanejad, stay away from Patrice Bergeron please!