Western Conference Road Trip: New York Rangers Take on the Avalanche Tonight

Tonight, the New York Rangers will pay a visit to the Colorado Avalanche for the first time since January of 2010.

In the single game of the series last season the Rangers won 3-1, all goals coming from superstar right winger, Marian Gaborik.

It was Gaboriks first hat-trick as a New York Ranger, and it led the team to a big victory.

This will be the lone match up this season for the two teams, and it should be an entertaining game.

Correction: This is the second game of the season between the Rangers and Avalanche. The Avs' defeated the Rangers 3-1 earlier this season.

The Rangers, who are coming off a tough 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins Wednesday night, hold one of the best road records in the NHL at 6-2-0 on the season.

That is outstanding for a team that often struggled as the visitors in previous seasons.

The Avalanche hold a home record of 5-4-0 on the season, and they are coming off of a 4-3 overtime victory against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

The major problem that the Rangers encountered on Wednesday was special teams. No, not the penalty kill, the power play.

The Rangers power play was horrific against the Bruins, failing to score a game tying goal with a late 5-on-3 power play advantage.

They will likely get a few chances on the power play in tonight's game against a Colorado team with a poor penalty kill. The Avalanches penalty kill is ranked 27 in the league, with a 75-percent penalty kill average.

If the Rangers can generate multiple chances on their power plays, and constantly shoot the puck on net, they may squeeze through a few huge goals.

The power plays performance has been unacceptable. It seems like the players are constantly looking to feed superstar forward Marian Gaborik a pass, and miss excellent opportunities to shoot. While Gaborik is the best forward on the team, and has a knack of scoring huge goals, other players have to shoot the puck on the power play, and generate quality scoring chances.

Another change that should be made before the game begins is the first line center. Erik Christensen has not been good this season, at all. He had one "big" game against the Oilers Sunday afternoon (when he had three assists), but beside that he has been quiet all season.

Derek Stepan on the other hand, has played extremely well as the first line this season; and he added an outstanding assist on Marian Gaboriks goal against the Bruins Wednesday night. Stepan can pass the puck, and he can play with the Rangers top forwards. Placing him between Marian Gaborik and Alexander Frolov IS the best option for him, and I believe head coach, John Tortorella, will notice that as well.

The Rangers defense was not great on Wednesday, as two of the three goals were centered around terrible defensive mistakes. Playing the younger defense man together on the third defensive pairing may not be the best idea for the Rangers (the defense man would be Mike Sauer and Matt Gilroy).

I understand Michael Rozsival is unable to play right now, but maybe placing either Dan Girardi or Steve Eminger with one of the younger guys wouldn't be such a bad idea.

I'm not saying to play them like that for the entire game, but at certain times it may be the best thing for the Rangers to do. Gilroy has not played well defensively, and that hurt the Rangers in their last game. When the games tied, or the Rangers have a one-goal lead or deficit, maybe Tortorella should play one of his better defense man (Eminger or Girardi) with one of his younger and less experienced defense man (Michael Sauer or Matt Gilroy).

Just an idea.

Henrik Lundqvist is the likely starter for tonight's game, and he will look to bounce back from an okay performance on Wednesday against the Bruins.

If any lineup changes are made to the Rangers lineup, expect an update around two-o'clock, and I may have a "First Quarter Report Card" published around the same time for the Rangers forwards. Tomorrow I hope to have the defense, goaltending, coaching, and managing report cards up.

Check out my first quarter report card for the Rangers offense:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/521936-new-york-rangers-first-quarter-report-cards-forwards