Blue Line Station
Fansided

New York Rangers looking to take the crown from the Kings

By Andrew Steele-Davis

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 10: New York Rangers Left Wing Artemi Panarin (10) score the Rangers' only goal late in the third period against Los Angeles Kings Goalie Jonathan Quick (32) on December 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Rob Curtis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 10: New York Rangers Left Wing Artemi Panarin (10) score the Rangers' only goal late in the third period against Los Angeles Kings Goalie Jonathan Quick (32) on December 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Rob Curtis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 07: New York Rangers Defenceman Brady Skjei (76) in action during the first period of the National Hockey League game between the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers on February 7, 2020 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 07: New York Rangers Defenceman Brady Skjei (76) in action during the first period of the National Hockey League game between the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers on February 7, 2020 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

About the Rangers

Let’s start with a good omen, shall we?

Dating back to Oct. 22, the New York Rangers are 16-6-0 in their last 22 games which have followed a loss, while they are 11-3-0 at Madison Square Garden in games after a loss.

That is good to know considering that the Blueshirts are coming into tonight’s contest off a stinker to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

It was just a bad loss to a bad team and it further dented the Rangers’ hopes of making a long-awaited return to the postseason.

They will have the chance to bounce back against a rebuilding LA Kings team, however, and rookie Igor Shesterkin will get another opportunity to impress between the pipes.

Shesterkin is 4-1-0 in his first five starts for the Blueshirts and we will get another tantalizing glimpse of the future in goal for this storied franchise later.

Brady Skjei is set to skate in his 300th career NHL game tonight, with the defenseman leading the Rangers in games played with 292 since the start of his first full NHL season in 2016-17.

Kaapo Kakko could earn himself a bigger role tonight after shining in the final period against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, recording an assist and thrown out on to the ice as one of the Rangers’ six skaters once Alexandar Georgiev was pulled.

One player who won’t feature tonight, however, is Micheal Haley who will undergo surgery for a bilateral core muscle injury, and that could well be the end of the enforcer’s season.

This is a real opportunity for the Rangers to restore some confidence by beating up on a bad Kings team, and they will be relying on franchise center Mika Zibanejad who has posted a multi-point game in four of his last eight contests against the Kings.

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