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Game 39: NYR-SJ, Rangers Go for California Sweep

January 10, 2015, 8:22 PM ET [160 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers play the Sharks tonight in their finale of their thee-game California swing. The first two games, which came on consecutive nights, could not have gone any better. Those two wins have given the Rangers 12 wins in their last 13 contests and moved them up in the standings and closer to the top of the division and conference.

When I think of San Jose, two ideas come to mind. First is getting some payback for the 9-2 whitewashing early last season in which Tomas Hertl embarrassed Martin Biron, all but sending him into retirement, second is the return of Dan Boyle to a place he called home for most of his career. I am sure that Boyle will be ramped up for this contest.

New York will go with a similar lineup as the other two nights, with the only major change that Henrik Lundqvist will be back between the pipes tonight after sitting against LA. That means Tanner Glass and Matt Hunwick will sit again so that J.T. Miller, Lee Stempniak, Jesper Fast and John Moore can play. My view is why mess with success, which is something I have said many times before and hieofully AV rides this lineup out, though I expect Hunwick to be back in before too soon.

Congratulations to Rick Nash for getting named to the All-Star Game, which will be in Columbus. I am not shocked no other Ranger got in, because other than Lunqvist, who rebounded after a poor start, who had a good first half? I prefer to have Hank and others rest and hopefully continue the success they have shown recently. To me, it's further evidence this is a team and not solely reliant on one player for success,

What also ha come out of this recent hot streak is that New York has inched closer in the goals for to goals against disparity in the conference. In fast, as the Rangers Twitter feed said, entering tonight #NYR are the only team to be top 10 in the NHL in: W, ROW, P%, Goal Differential, G/GP, GA/GP, 5-5 F/A, PP%, PK%, & SA/GP. If that doesn't highlight just how well the squad has played, nothing will.

Tonight, I am California Dreaming for a sweep.
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