New York Rangers vs Vegas Golden Knights: Join the live conversation

The New York Rangers will meet the Vegas Golden Knights at Madison Square Garden.  The Blueshirts haven’t lost in regulation in five games and look to extend that streak.

Henrik Lundqvist will be in net for the seventh time in nine games as the New York Rangers face the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time this season.  He will be opposed by Malcolm Subban as Marc-Andre Fleury is away from the team due to the death of his father last week.  It’s an opportunity for the Rangers with the Vegas top goalie not  in action.

This afternoon, coach David Quinn announced that Kaapo Kakko will remain on the top line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome.  He also reaffirmed that Brendan Lemieux will remain on the wing with Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich.   The one late change could be if Jesper Fast is unable to play.  He was cross checked in the New Jersey game and didn’t skate this morning.   Quinn said that he will be a gametime decision. If he is out, look for Boo Nieves to take his place in the lineup.

Quinn also stressed the need for the team to cut down on penalties.  “One of the things that has happened to us when we struggled is we made life difficult on ourselves. We’ve got to continue to clean that up. You just can’t take eight penalties and 15 minutes of penalty kill time. It’s just not a recipe for success.”

He also emphasized the issue of the Rangers passing up on good shooting opportunities provided an update on Marc Staal.  Quinn said he is “getting closer” and should be ready to see action soon.

Vegas is 13-11-4 and are in a virtural tie for the last wild card spot in the Western Conference. They have won two games in a row, but have been muddling though playing .500 hockey.

Projected Lineups

New York Rangers

48 Lemieux – 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 24 Kakko
20 Kreider – 72 Chytil – 17 Fast
38 Haley – 21 Howden – 42 Smith

76 Skjei – 8 Trouba
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
25 Hajek – 77 DeAngelo

30 Lundqvist
40 Georgiev

Vegas Golden Knights

81 Jonathan Marchessault – 71 William Karlsson – 19 Reilly Smith
67 Max Pacioretty – 26 Paul Stastny – 61 Mark Stone
28 William Carrier – 9 Cody Glass – 89 Alex Tuch
92 Tomas Nosek – 10 Nicolas Roy – 75 Ryan Reaves

3 Brayden McNabb – 88 Nate Schmidt
14 Nicolas Hague – 27 Shea Theodore
15 Jon Merrill – 5 Deryk Engelland

30 Malcolm Subban
40 Garret Sparks

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The game will be televised on the MSG2  Network and the radio call is on ESPN Radio 1050AM.