The Rangers welcome in the Avalanche to MSG on Thursday. New York is coming off a solid 5-0 win, in which all aspects of their game clicked. Conversely, Colorado enters the contest nursing their wounds from a 6-0 whitewash at the hands of the Islanders, in which there were outshot 42-20. Getting outshot is nothing new for Colorado, as they made a habit of that last year, but contrasted to last season, when the Avalanche won those games bolstered by brilliant play from Semyon Varlamov, this season, they are falling in them.

Tonight marks the return and first regular season home game from Dan Boyle, who was injured Opening Night in St. Louis. Boyle's broken hand is not 100% but it is good enough for him to go tonight. As Coach Alain Vigneault said, we all need to temper our expectations of what Boyle provides. I would expect his puckhandling and shooting to be a work-in-progress, improving as the range of motion and pain in his hand dissipate. Boyle will be paired again with Marc Staal while also playing the point on the first PP unit. In addition, Matt Hunwick surprisingly moves down to play with Kevin Klein, who was very good Tuesday, while John Moore, who may have has his best game of the year Tuesday and showed why the organization is still so high on him, moves up to play with Dan Girardi.

To make room for Boyle off LTIR, Michael Kostka was waived. That move also may be a portend of things to come, as Tomas Kaberle will play a game or two over the weekend with Hartford of the AHL to determine if he should be offered a contract. Kostka had that nightmare of a game against the Islanders, but made the most of his second change, starting with the game against Winnipeg when J. Moore was tossed and Ryan McDonagh injured. I actually thought he had been fairly solid but with Moore and Boyle back, he is the odd-man out and with room needed, he is the one to take the hit. Boyle's return lowers the Rangers available cap space that is pretty good reflection of where they actually are, since McDonagh is not on LTIR and his salary is counting against the cap.

The forwards are the same as against Pittsburgh, meaning Anthony Duclair sits again. There has been much written disagreeing with how the Rangers and AV are handling him. I get it, if he is here, he needs to play, or if not send him back. However, with Jesper Fast in evaluation mode and the belief that a winger not a center is needed - precluding calling up JT Miller or Oscar Lindberg - I agree with keeping him here. I don’t necessarily think Miller (especially) or Lindberg (less so) can't play wing or Moore couldn’t be moved, but if Fast shows he can handle the role consistently, then send Duclair to juniors. However, as we know, if that happens, he and that marvelous skill set are lost. With the WJC a month away, I think it's more likely he remains in NY until then, at which point a decision on his status will be made. If Fast struggles, insert Duclair on the third line, shift Lee Stempniak down and your lines are again balanced.

Projected Lineups:

Rangers:

Rick Nash-Derick Brassard-Marty St. Louis
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
Carl Hagelin-Kevin Hayes-Lee Stempniak
Tanner Glass-Dominic Moore-Jesper Fast

Marc Staal-Dan Boyle
John Moore-Dan Girardi
Matt Hunwick-Kevin Klein

Henrik Lundqvist (7-4-1, 2.55 goals-against, .914 save percentage)

Avalanche:

Ryan O’Reilly-Matt Duchene-Alex Tanguay
Gabriel Landeskog-John Mitchell-Jarome Iginla
Jamie McGinn-Nathan MacKinnon-Daniel Briere
Cody McLeod-Marc-Andre Cliche-Maxime Talbot

Jan Hejda-Erik Johnson
Nate Guenin-Tyson Barrie
Nick Holden-Zach Redmond

Semyon Varlamov (2-5-4, 3.05, .918)

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