New York Rangers Return Home Against Utah – Pregame Notes

After concluding a six-game road trip, including an away game for the winter classic in Miami, the Rangers are back on home ice for a quick two-game homestand starting against Utah (7PM on MSG).

Previous Game

• The Blueshirts are coming off an impressive 5-1 victory over the Florida Panthers at the Winter Classic in Miami
  • Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin led the way for the Rangers
    • Zibanejad recorded the first ever hat trick in Winter Classic history
    • Panarin contributed with two goals
  • The Rangers power play back being quarterbacked by Adam Fox looked sharp scoring two power-play goals on three attempts. 
  • Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves on 37 shots for one of his best games of the season

Rangers vs Mammoth 

• New York will look to ride the momentum coming off an exciting outdoor game. The Rangers improved to 6-0-0 in outdoor games in franchise history
• However, the Blueshirts are coming off a road trip where they went 2-3-1
• The Rangers need to continue to wrack up points and they’ll be looking to do that against a below .500 Mammoth team
  • Utah started the season off red hot with a record of 8-1-1 in their first ten games. But since then they have gone just 11-19-2
• Recently Utah have lost three of their last four games
• The Mammoth only have one injury, but it is a big one to their young superstar Logan Cooley
  • The former third overall selection has 23 points in 29 games on the season. The 21-year-old is not expected back until after the Olympic break
• Dylan Guenther leads the Mammoth in points as he is trending towards having a career season. Guenther has 36 points in 42 games and he is on track to beat his career high of 60. The 22-year-old is currently tied for first in points on the Mammoth with Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller.
  • Side note – Keller is one of two skaters on Utah to be going to the Olympics. Keller will represent Team USA while Mammoth defender Olli Maata will represent team Finland
• For the Rangers, Vincent Trocheck and J.T Miller will represent the Rangers for Team USA. Miller is currently out injured and he won’t be available on Monday night. But Miller’s return is imminent as he has been cleared for full contact. The Rangers’ captain will miss his seventh-straight game on Monday
• Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan will be the head coach of Team USA and his assistant coach David Quinn will also be a member of the staff
• Mika Zibanejad is the other Ranger who will play at the Olympics as he will represent Team Sweden
• Karel Vejmelka will get the start in goal for Utah. Vejmelka is 17-11-2 with an .895 save percentage on the season. He will square off against Shesterkin who will be right back in the net after a strong outing in the Winter Classic
• Anton Blidh will make his season debut on the fourth line. Brett Berard will come out of the lineup as a healthy scratch
  • Urho Vaakainainen is slated to replace Matthew Robertson on defense

Projected Lineup

Panarin-Zibanejad-Cuylle

Perreault-Trocheck-Lafreniere

Brodzinski-Dowling-Raddysh

Blidh-Carrick-Rempe

Gavrikov-Fox

Soucy-Borgen

Vaakanainen-Schneider

Shesterkin