Rangers vs. Golden Knights: 3 things to watch for in J.T. Miller’s home debut following massive trade

After donning a New York Rangers sweater Saturday for the first time in seven years, J.T. Miller returns to Madison Square Garden as a member of the home team Sunday after being acquired in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night. Miller and the Rangers will host the Vegas Golden Knights in what should be an upbeat atmosphere to welcome New York’s first-round pick in the 2011 draft back home.
Miller fared quite well in his return to the Rangers by scoring twice Saturday against the Boston Bruins. The bad news was the Rangers dropped further behind in the crowded Eastern Conference wild-card chase with a 6-3 loss to the Bruins at TD Garden.
After a 10-game point streak (7-0-3) moved the Rangers back into the mix, things are slipping backwards again with three straight losses — to the Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes and Bruins.
The Rangers (24-23-4) are 13th in the conference and were outscored 15-7 in the past three games. They head into Miller’s first home game of his return stint six points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference after their hot streak moved them to within three of that spot.
Miller will be playing his first home game as a Ranger since Feb. 25, 2018, roughly three weeks after former GM Jeff Gorton issued his letter to the fans stating the team was going to start rebuilding.
The rebuild occurred quickly but this time Miller was brought in to add more firepower to a team which was showing signs of recovering from an ugly 4-15-0 slide before slipping into some bad defensive habits and sloppy play.
The Rangers grinded out a 2-1 win over the Golden Knights in Las Vegas on Jan. 11, when the Golden Knights were in the opening stages of their current slump. However, Adam Edstrom, who scored the winning goal that night, will miss the rematch because of a lower-body injury sustained in the loss at Boston.
Vegas (31-15-6) has been atop the Pacific Division virtually the entire season but are now tied with the Edmonton Oilers. Each is nine points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the top spot in the West.
Vegas has scored 174 goals. but its offense has slipped a little during a 3-6-3 slide that began with a 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Jan. 9. After winning 13 of 15, the Golden Knights have scored three goals or less eight times in their past 12 games.
Mark Stone scored the goal for Vegas in the last meeting but has one goal in his past 10 games. Jack Eichel, however, has five of his 16 goals during Vegas’ slump and Pavel Dorofeyev has eight in his past 10 contests.
Related: Rangers Daily — J.T. Miller returns home to MSG; Stars land Mikael Granlund in trade
3 things to watch for when Rangers host Golden Knights

1. Get a lead and add on
During their three-game skid, the Rangers have never led and fell behind quickly in each game. Against Colorado, they faced a two-goal deficit in the opening 6:26, against Carolina they gave up the opening goal 56 seconds in and on Saturday, the Rangers fell behind 10:21 into the game.
Although the Rangers are outscoring their opponents 51-49 in the opening 20 minutes, the first period has been troublesome much of the season. The Rangers have allowed 20 goals in the opening five minutes, with nine of those occurring in the initial two minutes.
The Rangers are 16-4-2 this season when scoring first and 8-19-2 when they don’t. The Rangers also are 1-16-0 when trailing through the opening 20 minutes. A key for them Sunday is to score early and often, if possible, against a Golden Knights team trying to find their game.
2. Mika Zibanejad on the wing
The quick arrival of Miller resulted in some different line configurations, the most prominent of which involved Mika Zibanejad. The veteran center shifted to left wing on the top line with Miller and Artemi Panarin.
According to Zibanejad, it was the first time in “10 to 12 years” he played on the wing. He assisted on Miller’s second goal in his 20:10 TOI.
Zibanejad also took four shots on goal, marking the first time he’s had at least four in consecutive games this season.
Overall, the top line combined for 12 shots on goal and according to Natural Stat Trick, five of their 11 scoring chances were considered high danger. The flip side is that they also allowed four high-danger chances 5v5 and were even on the scoreboard at even strength, 1-1.
3. Another chance at 400 wins for Jonathan Quick
Since the Rangers are playing a back-to-back set, Igor Shesterkin is unlikely to start. Shesterkin has not started both ends of a back-to-back set since Feb. 25-26, 2023.
That means Quick will likely make his fourth attempt at becoming the first United States-born goaltender to reach 400 regular-season NHL victories. Quick is attempting to become the 15th goalie to reach the milestone and join Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and Marc-Andre Fleury as the third active goalie to achieve the plateau.
Quick won his 399th game when he made 32 saves against Boston on Jan. 2. Since then, he has allowed 16 goals on 103 shots in three starts against the Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens.
New York Rangers projected lineup
Panarin – Miller – Zibanejad
Smith – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Kreider – Brodzinski – Cuylle
Vesey – Carrick – Rempe
Lindgren – Fox
K. Miller – Borgen
Vaakanainen – Schneider
Quick
Shesterkin
Rangers vs. Golden Knights: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Vegas Golden Knights
When: Sunday, Feb. 2 at 6:00 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden
How to watch: MSG
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