Rangers vs. Stars: 3 things to watch for trying again for consecutive wins
Coming off their most convincing win in two months, the New York Rangers go for their second straight victory and third in four games when they host the Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
As good as the Rangers (18-20-1) were in their 6-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon, they’ll need to be that much better Tuesday. This time they won’t be playing the last-place team in the NHL. Instead, they face off against a Stars team that’s won four in a row and is 5-0-1 since their most recent regulation defeat — 3-1 in Dallas on Dec. 20 against, you guessed it, the Rangers.
In that road win, the Rangers relied on an awesome penalty kill, which was 7-for-7 and killed off a five-minute major to Matt Rempe. They also got a 41-save effort from Igor Shesterkin.
The Rangers won’t be able to rely on Shesterkin this time, since he remains on IR with an upper-body injury. Shesterkin did participate in the morning skate, but coach Peter Laviolette shook his head when asked after the morning skate if he had a return date for his No. 1 goalie. And they certainly don’t want to push their luck that much again with the Stars’ power play, even if it is ranked 28th in the NHL (15.5 percent) this season.
However, the Rangers will bring some swagger into this game, unlike that contest with the Stars a few weeks ago when they were mired in a brutal slide. The Rangers are playing better hockey in all facets of the game — particularly on offense where they’ve scored 10 goals the past two games.
“There’s still things we can do better,” Laviolette said. “There’s still plenty of room for improvement. But offensively we have been generating, and defensively we have been tighter.”
They’ll also have Jonathan Quick in goal, seeking his 400th NHL victory, though the 38-year-old allowed a six-spot in his most recent start Saturday, a 7-4 empty-net aided loss to the Washington Capitals.
Related: Rangers receive major boost of production, optimism from healthy Filip Chytil
3 things to watch for when Rangers host Stars
1. Recipe for success
The Rangers have done a much better job at generating consistent offense recently, and were rewarded with four goals in Washington and six in Chicago. They’ve been faster through the neutral zone, controlled the puck more in the offensive zone and gotten both bodies and pucks to the net.
At least four of their goals against the Blackhawks were scored through traffic, including the final one, a fluky goal that was well deserved when the puck caromed into the net off Filip Chytil who was stationed at the top of the blue paint when a shot first hit Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom.
They must remain committed to this style of play against the Stars, who are tied atop the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings, allowing only 2.50 goals per game. Dallas doesn’t surrender many goals of any kind, much less the fancy ones. Hard work, dirty goals and special teams could decide this game.
2. Balancing special teams
Speaking of special teams, there’s a wide disparity on those of the Rangers. Their penalty kill is fourth in the NHL at 83.9 percent; but the Rangers power play is a miserable 17.1 percent (26th). New York has one power-play goal in its past 11 games and seven PPG since Nov. 14.
The Stars have a similar situation. Their PK is tops in the League (85.4 percent) but their power play is even worse than that of the Rangers, 29th overall at 15.5 percent.
One thing the Rangers don’t want to do is give the Stars 17 minutes of power-play time, as they did in the win at Dallas.
“I don’t want to think about going near the amount of minutes we had to kill the last time we played Dallas,” Laviolette said. “We need to stay out of the box.”
3. Streaking
Yet again, the Rangers will try and do a very simple thing that’s proven to be nearly impossible for two months. Win consecutive games. You know, create an actual winning streak.
The last time the Rangers won consecutive games was Nov. 14-19, a three-game winning streak. Five times since — and eight times this season — they followed a singular win with a loss. They’ve won four in a row once, three straight once and two in a row only one time this season.
“Every game will be a challenge,” Laviolette said. “We’ve got to win. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. They’re certainly a good team. They’re capable, and they’re on a little bit of a run themselves. They’re playing well, but right now it’s about us and making sure we’re ready to play.
“We have to make sure we’re ready to play a good game against a good team.”
Speaking of streaks, Chytil is on a season-long four-game point streak (four goals, assist) and, yes, Mika Zibanejad has points in three straight games (two goals, assist). For the Stars, forward Wyatt Johnston, who got off to a slow start this season, enters play with a six-game point streak (three goals, seven assists).
New York Rangers projected lineup
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Brodzinski– Zibanejad – Smith
Cuylle – Chytil – Berard
Edstrom – Carrick – Vesey
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Borgen
Vaakanainen – Schneider
Quick
Domingue
Rangers vs. Stars: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Dallas Stars
When: Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden
How to watch: MSG
Click here for New York Rangers complete 2024-25 schedule and game results
More About:New York Rangers News
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