After a bye week and the all-star break, the Rangers will play their first game in ten days as they look to pick up where they left off (7:30 P.M. ET, MSG/NBCSN).
The Blueshirts are currently riding a three-game win streak, which was established prior to the nine-day break. In their last game, they defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 with a goal from Filip Chytil and two goals from Mika Zibanejad.
Henrik Lundqvist participated in the all-star festivities over the break. Lundqvist won the save streak competition as part of the All-Star Skills series. Lundqvist made twelve consecutive breakaway saves against the Atlantic Division. Lundqvist beat Andrei Vasilevskiy who made eight consecutive saves.
In the all-star game, Lundqvist allowed just two goals. Despite playing two games, his two goals were the fewest among all goalies at the event. Lundqvist pitched a shutout in his half of the championship game and helped the Metropolitan Division win the all-star game.
“It’s a fun feeling…we took care of business,” Lundqvist said.
With Lundqvist participating in the all-star festivities, Alexander Georgiev was sent down to Hartford (with Ryan Lindgren and Boo Nieves) and he played some valuable minutes. Georgiev (and Nieves) returned to the Rangers two days ago, and the Russian netminder will start tonight against the Flyers.
Flyers rookie Carter Hart made 31 saves in a win against the Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets. With Hart playing last night, Anthony Stolarz is expected to get the start for the Flyers. With Stolarz in the cage, this will be the third different Flyers goalie the Rangers will have seen this year (Neuvirth and Pickard).
The Rangers will also get some additional reinforcements with the returns of Kevin Hayes and Neal Pionk.
“It’s been a while, I’m really excited,” said Hayes. Hayes will play in his first game since January 2nd, due to an upper-body injury.
However, Mats Zuccarello won’t be available and is out with a foot infection. Zuccarello is expected to be available for Thursday night’s game against the Devils. With Zuccarello out, Brett Howden is likely to play the wing.
“Plus, I want to see what Howden looks like on the wing. I think it can give him a little bit of relief down low a little bit, maybe get him going a little bit more offensively,” said head coach David Quinn.
Mika Zibanejad will look to carry over his strong play prior to the break, in tonight’s game. Zibanejad is on a five-game point streak and has had nine points in that span.
Quinn is also liking the trend of Kevin Shattenkirk’s play.
“I think Shatty’s doing a pretty good job defending, I think he’s doing a good job playing with an urgency, he’s getting better on the power play,” Quinn said. “I like the direction his game is going.”
Pavel Buchnevich will be a healthy scratch for the Blueshirts. “He’s gotta play better,” Quinn said.
With Buchnevich out, the Rangers will dress seven defenders as Brendan Smith enters the lineup.
Projected Lineup: 11F 7D
Kreider-Zibanejad-Namestnikov
Vesey-Hayes-Howden
Chytil-Strome-Fast
McLeod-Nieves
Skjei-McQuaid
Staal-DeAngelo
Pionk – Shattenkirk
Smith
Georgiev
