Rangers Begin Five-Game Homestand Against Washington

The Blueshirts begin a five-game homestand where they play four divisional games starting with a crucial one against the Capitals (7:00 on ESPN).

Rangers	NHL Rankings	Capitals
37-19-10	Record	32-28-7
10^th	NHL Standing Rank	21^st
15^th	GF/PG	19^th
9^th	GA/PG	13^th
9^th	PP%	20^th
17^th	PK%	6^th

Rangers vs Capitals

The Blueshirts are coming off their third straight overtime game. New York won the previous two prior to tasting defeat in Pittsburgh. The Rangers are beginning an important five-game homestand including a game against Washington, Carolina, Nashville, and twice against Pittsburgh.

New York are not playing their best hockey at the moment as they are trying to find their game and identity. Since the trade deadline, the Blueshirts are 3-2-1 and they have yet to win a game in regulation. All three of the Blueshirts wins were in overtime or a shootout. After playing Patrick Kane with Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere for a game and a half, head coach Gerard Gallant has opted to move Kane back to the original line he started on with Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin. With that, ‘The Kid Line’ will be back together as they look to get out of a rut. Kaapo Kakko hasn’t had a point in the last three games while Filip Chytil hasn’t recorded a point in the previous five games.

Ryan Lindgren has missed the previous seven games and he is slated to miss his eighth straight game with an upper-body injury. Lindgren played just three minutes on February 25^th against the Capitals prior to leaving and not returning.

While the Capitals have struggled this season and are currently on the outside looking in for a wildcard spot, Washington has had the Rangers numbers with two convincing victories. The Capitals won the previous two meetings by the scores of 4-0 and 6-3.

One guy they will look to slow down is Evgeny Kuznetsov, Kuznetsov has 50 points in 66 games, including having a point on half of all goals the Capitals have scored against the Rangers thus far.

Since the Rangers last saw the Capitals, Washington sold off a lot of key players at the trade deadline. Washington shipped off Demitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to Boston. Erik Gustafsson was traded with a first-round draft pick to Toronto for Rasmus Sandin. Marcus Johansson was traded to Minnesota for a draft pick. And lastly, Lars Eller was traded to Colorado for a draft pick.

Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin is listed as a game-time decision with a lower-body injury. If Ovechkin does not play, he will join a list of injured Capitals which includes John Carlson, Carl Hagelin, and Connor Brown. Sonny Milano is listed as questionable with a non-covid related illness.

Darcy Kuemper will start against the Rangers for the third time this season. Kuemper shutout the Blueshirts in the first meeting and he made 23 saves in the 6-3 victory in Washington. Overall, Kuemper a record over 20-20-5 with a .912 save percentage.

Igor Shesterkin will start for the Rangers after having an off day against the Penguins. Shesterkin has looked more like his old self as of late with wins in four of the last five games, including stealing a game against the Sabres. The Rangers will need Shesterkin down the stretch and into the playoffs if they plan on making any noise.