After scoring an impressive win in Boston, the Blueshirts return home for a rematch with the Florida Panthers (8:00PM on ESPN).
Rangers | Rankings | Panthers |
46-20-4 | Record | 45-20-4 |
2nd | League Rank | 7th |
9th | Goals For | 13th |
6th | Goals Against | 2nd |
6th | Power play | 4th |
4th | Penalty Kill | 6th |
Rangers vs Panthers
- Rangers are coming off a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins
- Jonathan Quick recorded 24 saves for his 16th win of the season
- Artemi Panarin recorded a hat trick
- The Blueshirts will now return home for a rematch with the Florida Panthers
- These two teams played just over two weeks ago at Madison Square Garden with the Panthers coming out on top 4-2. Sam Reinhart was a difference maker recording two goals
- Igor Shesterkin will be back in goal for New York. Shesterkin will duel with fellow Russian Sergei Bobrovsky who has 32 wins on the season and a .916 save percentage
- Aleksander Barkov will be unavailable for the Panthers on Saturday night. Neither will Aaron Ekblad for Florida. Ekblad has played in just 47 games this season for the Panthers
- For the Rangers, Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren both remain out of the lineup. Lindgren started skating on his own according to head coach Peter Laviolette. Trouba is expected to return to the lineup before Lindgren and possibly by the end of next week
- Reinhart leads the Panthers in points with 79 including 48 goals
- 27 of his 48 goals are on the power-play
- The Blueshirts will see a former player in Vladimir Tarasenko. Tarasenko was acquired by the Rangers at the trade deadline last season. In the offseason, Tarasenko signed a one-year deal with Ottawa and was traded to Florida just days after the last meeting between the Rangers and the Panthers
- Carter Verhaeghe has 66 points on the season and he has a shot at breaking his career high of 73 points set last season. The 28-year-old has been held scoreless in the past three games
- Will Cuylle, who scored a goal against the Panthers, is slated to be a healthy scratch. Jonny Brodzinski would enter the lineup in his place. Laviolette reiterated his plan to rotate forwards down the stretch to continue to get them all ready for the playoffs
- With a win on Saturday night, the Blueshirts would finish the night at the top of the league
- If the Panthers win, they will find themselves one point behind the Bruins for the top spot in the league
Bet of the Night
The bet of the night is for Alexis Lafreniere to record a point. Lafreniere has at least a point in each of the previous five games. At +110 odds, a $5 bet would win $10.50 for a profit of $5.50
Current record: 20-21
Current Money Total (Based on $5 bets) – We are up $1.77 on the season
Projected Lineup
Kreider-Zibanejad-Roslovic
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere
Brodzinski-Wennberg-Kakko
Vesey-Goodrow-Rempe
Gustafsson-Fox
Miller-Schneider
Ruhwedel-Jones
Shesterkin