The Rangers look to extend their winning streak to six games when the face the Blackhawks tonight at MSG. Chicago comes in off a 4-1 win over the Islanders last night with a three game win streak and 7-3 over their last 10. New York is 8-1-1 in their last 10 and 15-2-3 since Henrik Lundqvist went down.
New York enters tonight's contest with reshuffled forward lines due to the absence of Martin St. Louis, who will miss 10-14 days with what's believed to be a sprained knee. Kevin Hayes has been moved up from third line center to second line winger, paired with Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard, whom he played with on Feb. 24 when Rick Nash was out with neck spasms. Nash is now reunited with Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan. James Sheppard is now the third line center between Carl Hagelin and J.T. Miller while Dominic Moore centers Jesper Fast and Tanner Glass; back in the lineup after missing one game with an injury.
On defense, the pairings are the same since Kevin Klein was lost to an broken arm. Ryan McDonagh is with Dan Girardi. Marc Staal is once again with Dan Boyle while Keith Yandle is paired with Matt Hunwick, who is replacing Klein. Even without Patrick Kane, Chicago's offense is formidable, led by Jonathan Toews. The Blackhawks' captain has upped his game, picking up the slack for his teammate.
In goal, it once again will be Cam Talbot. For how long that will be is up in the air. Henrik Lundqvist was cleared to practice. He faced shots today from Benoit Allaire but it's not the same as a full practice. It's pretty clear that the projected return date of March 24 will not happen.
Glen Sather said this AM that Lundqvist likely will need 10 days of practice before returning. AV indicated today, that over the next eight days, the squad has only two team practices. This Friday and next Wednesday before the team heads to Ottawa for the March 26 game. Presuming we stick with the 10 days estimate, that would mean Lundqvist would return either March 28 in Boston or March 29 at home against Washington. That would give him probably six-seven games to scrape off the rust and be ready for the playoffs.