The Rangers close out the "first half" of the season with a contest at MSG against the Senators on Tuesday. New York enters the contest with a two-game win streak, including Sunday's 5-2 win over the Penguins and have won 15 of 18. Ottawa has been middling all year, evidenced by their overall 18-18-8 mark and 4-4-2 record in their last 10 as they sit 10 points out of the eighth playoff spot. That said, somehow they are 13-1-1 in their 15 regular season games at MSG. The Rangers can take over 2nd in the division with a win and Pitt regulation loss to their Pennsylvania neighbors tonight.
The Rangers lineup today is the same as against Pittsburgh, as Tanner Glass is still nursing an upper-body injury and Matt Hunwick replaces John Moore for the fourth straight game. The concern over Henrik Lundqvist, who looked to be injured with about seven-and-half minutes left Sunday, proved to be unfounded as he will be between the pipes again tonight.
Rangers
Rick Nash-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Marty St. Louis Carl Hagelin-Kevin Hayes-Jesper Fast J.T. Miller-Dominic Moore-Lee Stempniak
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi Marc Staal-Dan Boyle Matt Hunwick-Kevin Klein
Henrik Lundqvist (22-9-3, 2.26 goals-against average, .920 save percentage)
Senators
Clarke MacArthur-Kyle Turris-Mark Stone Mike Hoffman-Mika Zibanejad-Bobby Ryan Milan Michalek-Jean-Gabriel Pageau Erik Condra-David Legwand-Chris Neil
Marc Methot-Erik Karlsson Jared Cowen-Cody Ceci Chris Phillips-Eric Gryba
Craig Anderson (12-11-6, 2.33, .927)
Of course, despite that consistent lineup, rumors of the Rangers actively looking to bolster the roster came to the forefront again today. Pierre Lebrun wrote the following in his blog today:
The New York Rangers are targeting a bottom-six forward, one who preferably could play both center and slide over to the wing, and obviously help in the faceoff department (the club is 29th in the NHL in faceoff win percentage at 46.3 percent).The Blueshirts could even add a depth blueliner if the price is right, but the No. 1 objective is finding that bottom-six forward.
This comes as no surprise as it's something we have discussed a lot, especially lately. The team has been rumored to be interested in Antoine Vermette while several on this site wanted Cody McCormick. You can cross the latter name off the list, as McCormick, who had been hospitalized due to a blood clot in his leg, appears likely to miss the rest of the season. Of course, as Adam Herman wrote, if the Rangers had signed Mike Santorelli, which several fans on this site wanted, or Blake Comeau, rather than Glass, they would have saved some money and not had to deal a pick to get one. On the blue line, the most common name mentioned has been Andrej Sekera and NY had three scouts watching Carolina and Toronto yesterday,
Most thought that Sekera was the target, but if your believe another Rangers site, maybe the Blueshirts are trying to acquire Tyler Bozak. The site wrote that Bozak has 14 goals and 32 points in 47 games while winning nearly 52% of all draws he has taken. At 6’1…³ and 195 lbs, he should be able to hold his own against the bigger centers in the Metro.
Who could he come for? One possibility is Mats Zuccarello, who per the Google translation of a Norwegian newspaper/a> is likely on his way out of town after the season because of the lack of cap room and need to sign Derek Stepan etc. One correction to that column is that Bozak does not have the same exact cap hit as Zuccarello’s $3.5M as Bozak is in year-two of his deal, so his cap hit is $4.2 mil per season.