Wild/Rangers: And Then There Were Nine For The New Yorkers

The New York Rangers host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday for game three in a three game homestand as they fight their way through the stretch run to make sure they have a spot in the playoffs.

After hosting the Buffalo Sabres and the Ottawa Senators in back-to-back games on the weekend, the Rangers hoped to be on a four game win streak and extend it to five against the Wild.

They split the games with the Sabres and Senators, so their three game win streak came to an end.

By defeating the Oilers 3-0, the Wild moved into 10th place in the Western Conference, one point back of idle Nashville for the final playoff spot.

Mikko Koivu left the game because of a knee injury and is not expected to return to the lineup any time soon. Koivu leads the team with 62 points this season.

The Minnesota Wild are now 34-30-8.
The New York Rangers are 38-27-8.

Marian Gaborik recently returned to the Wild. He had played only six games this season because of a hip injury. The Wild have struggled without their team captain, Gaborik, and were  three points out of play-off contention with eleven games to go in the regular season.

Gaborik is the only hockey player in the 21st century to have scored five goals in a single game. In 2007, Gáborík had a six-point game against the Rangers. He scored five goals and added an assist.

He was the first player in Wild history to score five goals in a game, as well as the first NHLer since Sergei Fedorov of the Detroit Red Wings 11 years earlier.  He had 42 goals and 41 assists for 83 points last year and will be a UFA at the end of this year.

Martin Brodeur recently led the New Jersey Devils to a 4-0 win over the Wild 4-0. It was Brodeur's shutout number 101, which leaves him just two behind Terry Sawchuck's milestone.

The Rangers are coming off a pair of well-played wins against two of the top eight teams in the East. Given his last two performance at home in Madison Square Garden, the "Avery Factor" will likely weigh into the outcome of the Rangers three game home-stand.

Last Sunday at MSG, Avery was the first star of the Game of the Week on NBC when the Rangers defeated the Flyers 4-1. New York followed that win with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

New York is 21-10-4 at home this year and has won its last three in MSG.

The Rangers are enjoying a hot streak after a cold slump. They went 2-8-4 in January and February, averaging only 1.6 goals per game. The Rangers recently have won six of eight and averaged 3.5 goals per game.

The Rangers earned their second straight win Thursday, 4-3 in a shootout at Montreal.