Pregame: Rangers Desperately in Need of a Win in Phoenix

The New York Rangers will be looking for any signs of hope tonight as they take on the Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena in Phoenix. Now only one game above .500, the Broadway Blueshirts are in the midst of a season-high four-game losing streak, with their most recent being a 5-1 drubbing by the Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

New York has only scored three goals in their past four games, with two of them coming from the same player, one of which was extremely lucky and should have not been allowed by Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Phoenix Coyotes, on the other hand, have been brilliant this season, currently sitting in the fourth place spot in the Western Conference with 67 points. The Coyotes are a young and talented team that has been through a lot with the threat of relocating after they were sold to the league, but they have fought through it all and have become one of the major surprises in the National Hockey League this season. Also, while playing on home ice, they are 20-8-2, which is a tremendous plus for attendance and sales purposes.

Rangers Projected Lineup

Callahan - Prospal -Gaborik
Dubinsky - Drury - Christensen
Higgins - Anisimov - Lisin
Avery - Boyle - Voros

Staal - Rozsival
Del Zotto - Girardi
Redden - Gilroy

Lundqvist

Scratches: Ales Kotalik, Donald Brashear (unconfirmed)

Henrik Lundqvist had one of his rare off nights on Wednesday, surrendering five goals to the Carolina Hurricanes. It seems as if Hank is beginning to buckle with all, and I mean all, of the pressure on him to win this team games since they cannot score if their lives depended on it. We have seen this in the past, and it is simply a case of Lundqvist over thinking. He just needs to go out and play while staying focused. Of course, a little offense here and there would help.

Erik Christensen will return to the lineup tonight against the Coyotes after being a healthy scratch in the two previous games. He will be playing on a line with Brandon Dubinsky and Chris Drury, meaning the trio will be made up of all centers. With this change, it is likely that forward Ales Kotalik will return to the press box after doing absolutely nothing in Wednesday’s tilt with the ‘Canes. He will probably be accompanied by enforcer Donald Brashear.

It is crucial for the Rangers to come out and score the first goal in this game. It seems like every night the opposition has the advantage right out of the gate because they find the back of the net with ease about a minute or so in. I put a lot of this on the defense, as they never look alert out there to begin the game. The Blueshirts need to establish a forecheck early if they want to come out victorious and possibly even score more than two goals. They cannot afford to be down one in the first five minutes.

Also, it is coming to the point where the first line on offense has to break out and score some goals. Marian Gaborik, Vinny Prospal, and now Ryan Callahan have all been quiet as of late, and are all due. Gaborik has just one goal in his last eleven and is now falling behind the league’s top scorers. I mean, obviously that is not the most important thing right now, but it just goes to show how he is off-pace compared to where he was at in October and November.
Coyotes Projected Lineup

Boedker - Lombardi - Doan
Prucha - Hanzal - Vrbata
Korpikoski - Lang - Mueller
Winnik - Fiddler - Pyatt

Jovanovksi - Michalek
Vandermeer - Aucoin
Lepisto - Yandle

LaBarbera

Tonight marks Enver Lisin’s return to Phoenix, and both Petr Prucha and Lauri Korpikoski will get shots at their former club in the Rangers. You can read all about this and more in this morning’s article .

In-game updates at twitter.com/RangersTribune .
(Photos courtesy of Getty Images and Reuters)