Pregame: New York Rangers Play Host to the Red-Hot Washinton Capitals at MSG

Beyond any doubt, tonight’s meeting with the Washington Capitals will not be a walk in the park for the New York Rangers.

The Capitals come into tonight’s game with an 11-game win streak on the line and are easily the hottest team in the National Hockey League, followed by the Senators and the Kings.

They are the Eastern Conference leaders by 12 points and have been playing remarkable hockey, not even lead by Alex Ovechkin. Sure, the Russian star has had input, but he has not been the only player scoring goals.

The Rangers went 1-2-0 on their western road swing and have lost seven of their last 10. With that in mind, the struggling Rangers ought to look at tonight’s contest as an opportunity to boost their overall confidence. And maybe go on a nice streak to close out the final five games leading up to the Olympic break.

Like I said in this morning’s article, these next five will be instrumental in the Blueshirts' bid for a playoff spot, so they better be looking to kick things into gear now.

Rangers Projected Lineup

Prospal - Christensen - Gaborik
Dubinsky - Jokinen - Callahan
Avery - Anisimov - Lisin
Prust - Drury - Boyle

Staal - Rozsival
Redden - Gilroy
Del Zotto - Girardi

Lundqvist

Scratches: Aaron Voros, Donald Brashear

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was fantastic in Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Kings. He only allowed two goals and kept the Rangers in it when they needed him most. Unfortunately, mistakes made by his own teammates cost him in that game and they ended up falling short of L.A. by just one. Hank did not show any signs of fatigue from the stomach flu at all.

Center Olli Jokinen did not last very long on the first line, as he has already been demoted to the second where he will play with Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan. I thought Jokinen was noticeable at least in his Ranger debut, as was Brandon Prust, but Olli did not seem to click with Marian Gaborik or Vinny Prospal. But when you think about it, neither has anyone on this team over the course of the season.

Leftwinger Brandon Prust will play on Drury’s wing, across from Boyle on the fourth trio in this one. I would watch for Prust to do something that will grab the attention of the Garden crowd early in the game, be it a fight, a big hit, or whatever. One way or another, I imagine he will look to make an impact right out of the gate in his MSG debut.

I am also curious to see what head coach John Tortorella will do to adjust the failing, or as I like to call it, powerless power-play. The Rangers have not recorded a tally on the power-play in weeks and right now, it is hurting them more than it should be helping them. Similar to last year under Renney? You bet.

Capitals Projected Lineup

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Knuble
Laich - Fleischman - Semin
Chimera - Morrison - Fehr
Gordon - Steckel - Bradley

Pothier - Sloan
Poti - Erskine
Shultz - Morrissonn

Theodore

In-game updates via tweets available at twitter.com/RangersTribune .