The Rangers kickoff a stretch of four games in six nights and six in nine days with a home game tonight against the Stars. Following today's game, New York will be in Ottawa on Wednesday and then have back-to-backs Friday at home against LA and then in Boston on Saturday. The light early schedule has started to change and will only get worse as the calendar winds down in December and into January and February.

After starting 14 straight games, Henrik Lundqvist sat Tuesday against Pittsburgh due to the flu. Ondrej Pavelec replaced Lundqvist, stopping 41 shots in a 4-3 win. Lundqvist started back-to-back games Friday and Saturday but will cede to Pavelec tonight, who makes his first start at MSG since October 26. I expect Lundqvist to start against Ottawa and likely Boston on the road, which would have Pavelec start Friday. No rhyme or reason for that decision, but I could see Saturday's game in Boston being a big more physical, leading to penalties, and Lundqvist's ability on the PK as the final backstop may come in very handy.

Mika Zibanejad will miss his sixth consecutive game tonight due to a concussion, but he did skate with the team Monday for the first time since the injury. He participated in the morning skate as a spare defenseman, though he wasn't wearing a red jersey, even though he is not yet cleared for contact. Coach Alain Vigneault said Zibanejad would need at least one full practice before dressing to play. It's possible that could occur Tuesday, allowing Zibanejad to face his former team, on Wednesday. I think it's more likely that Zib plays Friday or Saturday, and as said, given how physical Bruins' games can be especially at TD Garden, and also at times Kings' contests, New York needs to make sure he is more than ready to go before inserted back in the lineup.

New York enters having won seven of the last 10 games, including Saturday's 5-2 win over New Jersey. Defensively, still too many holes in their own zone and bad turnovers, which was a carry over from Friday's loss to the Capitals. The blueline, in terms of the six in the lineup and pairings, is the same as this weekend and recently with Ryan McDonagh-Nick Holden, Brady Skjei-Kevin Shattenkirk and Marc Staal-Brendan Smith. I could see a shifting of the pairings, as we have discussed, if the team struggles again tonight or possibly Steven Kampfer getting back in, which if that happens, expect a shifting of the pairings.

Saturday, the second through four lines all played a role in the win in terms of scoring. Jesper Fast (goal), Kevin Hayes (goal), Mats Zuccarello (two goals) and Jimmy Vesey (goal) all lit the lamp. Only the first line didn't score, yet the Kreider-Desh-Buch line still is generating chances. I don't foresee any further adjustments, as the reconstituted second and third lines were the alterations we expected to try and jumpstart the offense. Once Zib returns, Paul Carey may be the odd-man out, though it wouldn't shock me if it was Desh since the fourth line has played well as a grouping.

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