*stats based on playoffs.
Match-up - Rangers (51 wins, 109 points) @ Devils (48 wins, 102 points)
Road/Home records - 24-12-5 -------------- 24-13-4
TV - NBCSN (HD), CBC (HD), RDS (HD)
Puck drop - 8:00 PM ET
Series score - 2-1 Rangers
Projected starting goalies - Henrik Lundqvist (NYR) vs. Martin Brodeur (NJ)
Battle of the stats
Goals for/against per game *
New York Rangers - 2.18 / 1.71
New Jersey - 2.60 / 2.40
Powerplay/Penalty Kill percentage *
New York Rangers - 19.4 / 84.5
New Jersey - 18.2% / 71.4%
Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Rangers:
Carl Hagelin - Brad Richards - Marian Gaborik
Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Ryan Callahan
Artem Anisimov - Brian Boyle - Ruslan Fedotenko
Mike Rupp - John Mitchell - Stu Bickel
Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Marc Staal - Anton Stralman
Michael Del Zotto - Steve Eminger
Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Devils:
Zach Parise - Travis Zajac - Dainius Zubrus
Patrik Elias - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Jacob Josefson - David Clarkson
Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier
Bryce Salvador- Marek Zidlicky
Andy Greene - Mark Fayne
Anton Volchenkov - Peter Harrold
Notes: Martin Brodeur will start...Cam Janssen, Eric Boulton, Tim Sestito, Adam Larsson and Petr Sykora are expected to sit as healthy scratches...Henrik Tallinder has been skating but is not believed to be ready to return at this point...Jacob Josefson will return to the lineup and play in hist first career playoff game.
Rangers to watch out for:
Marc Staal - He hasn't received a ton of credit to this point, but he's been fantastic so far in this series. Through three games he has a goal, and an even plus/minus rating while averaging about 25 minutes per game.
Dan Girardi - He's been stellar defensively in this series and just as good offensively, registering four points (2G, 2A) and scoring both game winners for the Rangers.
Henrik Lundqvist - The Devils will come out flying and will surely be looking to get more traffic in front of Lundqvist to make his job as tough as possible. Will he be able to handle it?
Devils to watch out for:
Zach Parise - He is minus-4 in the series and has just one point (an assist) in three games. He'll need to be better if the Devils want to tie things up tonight.
Jacob Josefson - He's playing his first game since breaking his wrist late in the regular season and will be playing in his first career NHL playoff game. You can bet he'll have a lot of jump in his step.
Adam Henrique - Due to Sykora being a healthy scratch and some lines being flipped around, he'll be centering Elias and Kovalchuk on the 2nd line tonight. Let's see how he handles the extra minutes.
Keys to the game
New York - Weather the early storm
Coming off a heart-breaking loss, you know the Devils will come out flying at home in hopes of trying to even up the series. If the Rangers can weather the first ten minutes or so and get some big stops from their MVP candidate in net, Henrik Lundqvist, they should be fine.
New Jersey - Powerplay
The Devils powerplay went 0-for-6 in Game 3 and their lack of success ultimately cost them the game. They'll need to do a better job of capitalizing on the opportunities the Rangers give them in this one.
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