Rangers Roundup: Playoff action, fans want Lundqvist scratched, and notes vs. NJ

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Good morning. The Rangers face-off against New Jersey tonight at the Garden, here are your morning news and notes.

Today’s Playoff Action

The Rangers need to win just to keep pace, but could find themselves in a playoff spot at the end of the day. Let’s start with the latest standings.

Here’s tonight’s action with odds from MoneyPuck.com. The game with the most implications for getting into a spot is at 1PM today with the Canes needing to beat the Islanders to set the stage for the Rangers to claim the last wild card spot.

Money Puck

Scratching Lundqvist

Last night, I posed the question and posted a poll to get the fans perspective. The poll is still going, but with almost 1400 votes in, 54% of fans want the Rangers to scratch Lundqvist and go with Shesterkin and Georgiev the rest of the way.

Pre-Game Notes

  • All-Time*: 120-93-27-10 (67-32-20-4 at home; 53-61-7-6 on the road)*Note: All-time record includes games against the Kansas City Scouts from 1974-75 – 1975-76 and the Colorado Rockies from 1976-77 – 1981-82
  • Tonight’s game is the last of four meetings between the Rangers and Devils, and the second of two meetings between the two teams at MSG. The Rangers have posted a 2-1-0 record (1-0-0 at home; 1-1-0 on the road) and won the last meeting between the two teams, 6-3, on Jan. 9 at MSG.
  • Tony DeAngelo registered a hat trick and tallied five points in the last game between the two teams, and he tied single-game franchise records for goals and points by a defenseman in the contest; he leads all skaters with four goals and six points in the season series. 
  • Alexandar Georgiev – 3 GP, 2-1-0, 2.03 GAA, .934 SV%, 1 SO – Georgiev has made 33 saves in each of his two appearances against the Devils this season, and he posted a shutout in his last appearance against the Devils on Nov. 30, 2019 at New Jersey.
  • Igor Shesterkin – 1 GP, 1-0-0, 3.00 GAA, .939 SV% – Shesterkin made a single-game career-high 46 saves and earned a win while making his second career NHL appearance on Jan. 9, 2020 vs. New Jersey.
  • Mika Zibanejad – 22 GP, 7-13-20 – Zibanejad has posted a multi-point game in each of the last two games (one goal, three assists) and in five of the last seven games (four goals, eight assists) against the Devils. In addition, he has tallied 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in his last 15 games against New Jersey.

Notes courtesy of the New York Rangers PR Dept.

By Anthony Scultore

Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

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