Rangers Return Home Against Blue Jackets

Rangers Return Home Against Blue Jackets – Pregame Checklist

After a successful two-game road trip, the Rangers are back on home ice where they will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets (7:00 on MSG).

Rangers	NHL Rankings	Blue Jackets
43-20-10	Record	23-42-7
6^th	NHL Standing Rank	31^st
12^th	GF/PG	29^th
5^th	GA/PG	31^st
9^th	PP%	23^rd
12^th	PK%	31^st

Rangers vs Blue Jackets

The Blueshirts are returning home after winning two road games against the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers
On Monday, the Blueshirts officially clinched a playoff berth despite being idle. With the Panthers and Sabres each suffering losses, the Rangers have officially clinched a spot even if they were to lose every single game for the remainder of the season
Columbus currently sits tied for last in the NHL and are in contention to win the draft lottery for the highly touted Connor Bedard
‘The Kid Line’ led the way on Saturday by contributing for three of the Rangers four goals. Each member of the line recorded a goal and an assist. Patrick Kane scored the other goal at the beginning of the third period
Jaroslav Halak recorded 31 saves on 34 shots for his tenth victory of the season
Kent Johnson has had a strong past ten games with nine points recorded
Columbus has a lot of key personnel out of the lineup including Zach Werenski who is on the LTIR and hasn’t played since November
Other key players out of the lineup include Patrik Laine, Jake Bean, and Elvis Merzlikins. Columbus also has a few injuries to depth players in their lineup
Johnny Gaudreau leads the team in scoring with 67 points in 70 games. Last season, Gaudreau finished with 115 points including 75 assists
Michael Hutchinson is expected to get the start for the Blue Jackets. Hutchinson is 1-2-1 with an .874 save percentage
For the Blueshirts, they know they cannot take Columbus lightly despite where they sit in the standings. The Blueshirts didn’t play well against Montreal on home ice in January and the Canadiens made them pay for it. Columbus still has skilled players in their lineup and a lot of young players looking to prove themselves and earn future contracts
Former Blue Jacket Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers with 82 points on the season and 30 power-play points. Panarin will be looking to add to the tally against his former team
Ryan Lindgren participated in the Rangers practice on Monday. Lindgren has missed the previous two games with a nagging upper-body injury. If Lindgren isn’t ready to rejoin the lineup, then Ben Harpur will continue to play with Braden Schneider
“You know we are not going to rush him back,” said Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant. “When he is ready, he is ready.”