After suffering yet another defeat on Friday night against the Golden Knights, the Rangers travel to Ottawa for their final game before the all-star break (7:00PM on MSG).
| Rangers | Rankings | Senators |
| 29-17-2 | Record | 28-14-6 |
| 8th | League Rank | 29th |
| 14th | Goals For | 11th |
| 9th | Goals Against | 30th |
| 2nd | Power play | 24th |
| 6th | Penalty Kill | 30th |
New York is coming off a 5-2 defeat to the Golden Knights for their fourth defeat in the last five games. The Rangers have been in a slump and it has shown in their play and record. The Blueshirts are 4-7-2 in the month of January and have seen their big lead in the Metro completely evaporate. The Rangers are simply allowing too many goals as they have allowed 44 goals in the month of January – tied for the 6th most in the league.
The Blueshirts will play their final game before heading into the all-star break. New York will get a much needed break to reset physically and mentally with their following game coming on February 5th. Igor Shesterkin and Vincent Trocheck will represent the Rangers in Florida as all-stars.
Rangers vs Senators
New York will look to get their 30th victory of the season when they take on the 29th ranked Senators. Tim Stutzle leads the Senators in points with 45. His 35 assists lead the Senators. Brady Tkachuk leads the team in goals with 19 and in penalty minutes with 95. Tkachuk is known as a gritty player who likes to be in the thick of it as he has 49 more penalty minutes than the next closest player on Ottawa.
The Rangers will see Shane Pinto for the first time this season. Pinto was suspended for the first 41 games of the season for violating the NHL’s gambling policy. The New York native has recorded two points in three games played this season. Pinto centers the third line consisting of Ridly Greig and Drake Batherson. Batherson has 36 points this season.
Joonas Korpisalo will get the start in goal for the Senators. The Finnish netminder is 10-15-2 with an .888 save percentage on the season. The Rangers saw Anton Forsberg in early December who made 43 saves on 45 shots. Forsberg is currently out indefinitely with a groin injury.
New York will be short handed as Jacob Trouba has been suspended for two-games for elbowing Vegas forward Pavel Dorofeyev. Another availability to worry about is Ryan Lindgren being a game-time decision. New York has called up defender Connor Mackey from Hartford incase Lindgren is unavailable. Zac Jones will join the lineup and Mackey could make his Rangers debut. At 27-years-old, Mackey could play for his third team in as many years.
Kaapo Kakko scored his fourth goal of the season and the Rangers will be hoping that gets their former second overall pick going. Kakko has five points in 27 games on the season and the Rangers will be needing him to chip in offensively. Filip Chytil suffered a setback during his attempted comeback and it does not appear he will be available any time in the near future or even possibly this season.
Expect Jonathan Quick to get the nod in Ottawa. Shesterkin played on Friday and wasn’t at his best. Quick is 9-4-2 with a .913 save percentage.
The one good thing going in the Rangers favor is they have been excellent in the second half of back-to-backs including during their current slump. New York is 8-0-0 on the season and they are one of five teams who have yet to lose during the second half of a back-to-back.
The bet of the night – As mentioned in previous pregame reports, it is very tough to bet on the Rangers and the best advice is to not bet on them until they get back into their groove. For the sake of this, the bet of the night is Mika Zibanejad to record a point. Zibanejad has points in eight-straight games against his former team. The Swedish center has only failed to record a point in two of fourteen games against the Senators. At -200, a $5 bet will pay $7.50 for a profit of $2.50.
Current record: 16-14
Current Money Total (Based on $5 bets) – We are up $21.40 on the season
