After that bitter overtime defeat in Ottawa, the New York Rangers come home to the sanctity of Madison Square Garden to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is the same as last night's game, which was pivotal for the Rangers' playoff aspirations. Columbus sits tied on points with the Rangers but ahead on points percentage. New York got a point out of Ottawa, but it should have been two. The only way to fix that is with two points tonight for the Blueshirts and move ahead of Ottawa and Columbus in the standings.
Igor Shesterkin was the hero and villain last night, so Jonathan Quick will get the nod tonight. Quick spent a few days in Columbus during his time between Los Angeles and Vegas a few years ago, so he'll be looking to defeat what is technically his former team. He's also looking to tie Grant Fuhr for 13th on the NHL's all-time wins list.
The Rangers may reinsert Calvin de Haan and Brett Berard elsewhere after Braden Schneider and Chris Kreider's poor performances. How Peter Laviolette decides to line up against this Jackets roster will be vital. Does he continue the youth movement with Berard or lean on Kreider's leadership? Does he hope a veteran like de Haan can help steady the ship or go with the youthful Zac Jones and Schneider? We'll see later today.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dmitri Voronkov - Adam Fantilli - Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson - Boone Jenner - Mathieu Olivier
Yegor Chinakhov - Justin Danforth - Luke Kunin
Zach Aston-Reese - Sean Kuraly - James van Riemsdyk
Zach Werenski - Dante Fabbro
Denton Mateychuk - Ivan Provorov
Jake Christiansen - Damon Severson
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle - J.T. Miller - Mika Zibanejad
Chris Kreider - Sam Carrick - Juuso Parssinen
Brennan Othmann - Jonny Brodzinski - Matt Rempe
K'Andre Miller - Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen - Braden Schneider
Carson Soucy - Zac Jones
Jonathan Quick
Igor Shesterkin
Puck Drop
It's a 6 p.m. puck drop as the clocks have fallen back, and the Rangers need the two points. It's a challenging game against another team trying to close the gap to the New Jersey Devils in the final divisional spot, but the Rangers can put themselves in pole position to catch their Hudson River Rivals with a win. That's all that's required tonight, and we can forgive yesterday's collapse.