Rangers Face Capitals as Holiday Break Approaches – Pregame Notes

Rangers travel to Washington for an important divisional game as they get ready for the Holiday break (7PM on MSG2)

Rangers vs Capitals

• The Blueshirts are coming off a very disappointing 2-1 defeat to the Nashville Predators
  • It was the second of a back-to-back for both teams and the last placed Predators made it look easy against New York. Nashville controlled the entire game and the result was never really in doubt. The Rangers lone goal came from Jonny Brodzinski who scored seconds after the Predators scored an empty net goal
  • New York played with eleven forwards and seven defenders for the first time this season. Gabe Perreault and Matt Rempe were both sick which left the Rangers shorthanded at the forward position on Sunday
    • Both Perreault and Rempe are slated to rejoin the lineup on Tuesday night after missing the game against Nashville
  • Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves on 31 shots against Nashville
• Shesterkin will be back in net on Tuesday night as they face the red hot Capitals. Tom Wilson leads the Capitals in points with 34 points in 36 games
• This will be the final game for the Rangers until after the holiday break. The next Rangers game will be December 27 against the New York Islanders
• Alex Ovechkin currently has 31 points in the same amount of games
• Jakob Chychrun has 28 points on the back end and he is a plus 22 on the season
• Logan Thompson will be back in goal for the Capitals
  • Thompson is have a stellar season with a record of 14-8-3 and a .924 save percentage
  • The 28-year-old netminder will look to continue his strong play as he looks to make the roster for Team Canada and even try to win the starting job. Thompson missed out on Team Canada at the four nations tournament
• J.T. Miller was placed on IR on Tuesday which allows the Rangers to recall Brett Berard from the AHL. This gives the Rangers options if the Blueshirts continue to get sick,
• Perreault will fill in on the second line with Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle
• Berard is likely to be a healthy scratch
• The Blueshirts continue to be brought up in trade discussions as they look to shake up their core. Rumors are flying left and right, but making a deal will be easier said than done

Projected Lineup:

Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafreniere

Cuylle-Trocheck-Perreault

Brodzinski-Laba-Raddysh

Othmann-Carrick-Rempe

Gavrikov-Schneider

Soucy-Borgen

Robertson-Morrow

Shesterkin