The New York Rangers Conclude Series Finale with Nashville

Rangers	NHL Rankings	Predators
18-5-3	Record	16-10-1
4^th	NHL Standing Rank	12^th
14^th	GF/PG	17^th
7^th	GA/PG	16^th
7^th	PP%	8^th
7^th	PK%	24^th

Previous Game

The Rangers escaped Buffalo with a 2-1 victory. But it didn’t come easy as Buffalo scored with under six minutes left to make it a one-goal game. Things would get controversial after Buffalo scored a tying goal with under a minute to go. However, the refs would review the play and it was called back for offsides. The next day, NHL Senior Executive VP Colin Campbell released a statement on the NHL PR account that said the “original call of ‘good goal’ should have stood based on there not being enough evidence to overturn the call.”

Statement from @NHL Senior Executive VP Colin Campbell regarding the disallowed @BuffaloSabres goal on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021: https://t.co/rAxHBONhIA pic.twitter.com/pEOr2G40nB
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 11, 2021

Nevertheless, the Rangers won the game and improved to 18-5-3 on the season. Alex Georgiev improved to 3-0-0 in Shesterkin’s absence making 36 saves.

Rangers

With Shesterkin still recovering and not dressing for Sunday night, Georgiev will make his fourth start in his absence. The 25-year-old has allowed just five goals in three games and will be looking to continue his strong play against Nashville.

“He [Shesterkin] looks fine,” said head coach Gerard Gallant. He’s moving on it, he’s on the ice, so everything is going according to plan….”

Ryan Strome and Nils Lundkvist missed the morning skate on Sunday for maintenance. Gerard Gallant expects both to be available against Nashville.

The Rangers will be looking to tighten up a little bit in the second meeting against the Predators. In the first meeting, the shot total was even but the quality of chances was in Nashville’s favor. Shesterkin made many fine saves and was a big reason the Rangers won the game 3-1.

Chris Kreider is off to a fantastic start to the season. Kreider has 21 points to start the season with 17 goals. Kreider’s 17 goals currently puts him in fifth on the season for most goals on the season. On Sunday night, the 30-year-old will play in his 600^th career game on Sunday night. The Massachusetts native will become the 22^nd player in franchise history to play 600 games with the team.

Nashville Predators

The Predators currently sit third in the tight central division. In second place is the St. Louis Blues with 34 points; just one more point than Nashville. In sixth place, is the Dallas Stars with 28 points. The Predators sit just five points from sixth place and need every point they can to start to build a gap to get into the playoffs.

Nashville extended their win streak to four games after a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Starting goaltender Juuse Saros returned from action after a two-game absence with a non-covid illness and he recorded 29 saves for his 12^th victory of the season. Saros holds a .921 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average on the season as he is expected to get the nod on Sunday.

Leading Nashville in points are Roman Josi and Mikael Granlund with 27 points each in 27 games. And just behind them, are Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen with 25 points and 24 points respectively. Duchene missed the previous game with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day. Predators head coach John Hynes announced Duchene will miss the series finale with the Rangers.

What to watch

An important factor in Sunday’s game will be the Rangers’ ability to keep the puck out of the net and limit the opportunities of the Predators. Saros has had a stellar start to the season and if he does get the start, you can expect a defensive game. Saros allowed just two goals (plus an empty net) to the Rangers in the first meeting. The Blueshirts will have to match them with keeping the puck out of the net.