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After an important 6-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Rangers will host the Colorado Avalanche who just underwent a franchise altering trade (1PM on MSG). 

RangersRankingsAvalanche
24-20-4Record28-20-2
19th League Rank11th
14th  Goals For9th  
17th Goals Against21st 
19th Power play21st 
4th  Penalty Kill14th 

Rangers vs Avalanche

The talk of the hockey world on Friday night was about the Avalanche making a franchise altering trade that few saw coming at this stage of the season. The Avalanche traded forward Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in a three team trade and in exchange they acquired Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a second-round pick, and a fourth-round pick. 

Rantanen is one of the best in the game and trading him towards the end of January came as a surprise. The Finnish forward has over 90 points in each of the last three seasons, and over 100 points in the previous two seasons. The 28-year-old’s contract expires at the end of the season, and the Avalanche must feel that they could not have afforded Rantanen’s next contract. Rantanen’s agent is the same agent who represented Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton. Draisaitl’s next contract will see him earn an average of 14 million a season starting next season. 

Necas is no slouch himself as he has 55 points in 50 games. The 26-year-old is a versatile forward who can play center or winger. In his debut with Colorado in Boston, Necas played on Nathan MacKinnon’s wing, but was held without a point in 25 minutes of ice time. Necas is well on pace to break his career high of 71 points. 

One of the Avalanche’s major problems has been their depth at forward and acquiring Drury will help with that. Drury is a reliable player who brings energy and can help fill out a role in the bottom six. Miles Wood was activated from the IR and is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday afternoon.

The Blueshirts were also not quiet during the off days as they extended defender Will Borgen to a five-year deal worth 4.1 million per season. Borgen has been a steady addition since being acquired from Seattle. 

“I love the way he plays in front of me,” said goaltender Igor Shesterkin. “He is a huge player for us — he plays really well, smart, he’s a strong guy.” 

New York also made a minor league trade by acquiring Lucas Edmonds from Tampa Bay in exchange for Ryder Korczak. 

Shesterkin will be back in net after being named the NHL’s first star of the week last week. The Russian netminder allowed just one goal in three starts and he will look to continue his strong play. Shesterkin is 6-0-1 with a .948 save percentage in his last seven starts. 

MacKenzie Blackwood is expected to be in goal for Colorado after Scott Wedgewood got the start in Boston on Saturday. Blackwood was excellent against the Rangers just two weeks ago making 27 saves. 

The Blueshirts fourth line continued their strong play contributing for another goal against Philadelphia. Adam Edstrom redirected an Adam Fox shot for his fifth goal of the season. Arthur Kaliyev has been more noticeable the past few games and he has an active two game point streak. 

Projected Lineup 

Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere

Cuylle-Zibanejad-Smith

Kreider-Chytil-Kaliyev

Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe

Lindgren-Fox

Miller-Borgen

Vaakanainen-Schneider

Shesterkin

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