The Rangers complete their four-game, western conference home stand with a contest against the Avalanche, New York has won the first three games of that home stand and four in a row overall. After tonight's game, it's road contests against Columbus on Monday and the Islanders on Thursday.
The big subplot is that Henrik Lundqvist is going for win #400 at home tonight. If the Rangers had lost any of the past four games, Antti Raanta likely would have been between the pipes. But, with New York winning all four, with Lundqvist between the pipes, he gets a chance at win #400 at MSG. AV wanted to give Lundqvist 55-58 starts, even with his early-season struggles but bolstered by his recent hot play and Raanta's injury, he has played 41 of the first 54 games. With 28 games, barring injury, Lundqvist will far exceed the 58 games and likely end up in the 61-64 range. That would mean playing 20-23 of the last 28 games; that number likely dependent on where the Rangers are in the standings later in the season.
Lineup tonight includes the same forwards as the past several games and Dan Girardi sidelined a second straight game with his swollen right ankle. Girardi skated today and may be able to go Monday. Adam Clendening dresses a second straight game in place of Girardi, skating alongside Marc Staal with Nick Holden on the top pairing with Ryan McDonagh.
Nash-Step-Vesey Kreider-Zibanejad-Zuccarello Grabner-Hayes-Miller Fast-Lindberg-Buchnevich
Ryan McDonagh-Nick Holden Marc Staal-Adam Clendening Brady Skjei-Kevin Klein
Henrik Lundqvist