The New York Rangers will host Derek Stepan and the winless Arizona Coyotes tonight at Madison Square Garden.
- New York Rangers (2-5-2, 6 PTS)
- Arizona Coyotes (0-8-1, 1 PT)
- Venue: Madison Square Garden
- Location: New York, NY
- Television: MSG Network
The 0-8-1 Arizona Coyotes are the New York Rangers opponent tonight at MSG. The Coyotes are coming off a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night. The team’s leading scorer is #9, Clayton Keller, who has registered six goals and four assists in nine games.
The Coyotes have some familiar faces on their squad. Former Rangers Anthony Duclair, Adam Clendening, Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta will all be returning to MSG, some for the first time since leaving town.
The Rangers are coming off an embarrassing 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Monday night. They’ll get their chance at revenge on Thursday, Jan. 6 when they’re on the west coast.
Following a day of player movement, the Rangers practiced with some new line combinations yesterday.
Cristoval “Boo” Nieves will be wearing No. 24 in tonight’s game.
- Rick Nash–Mika Zibanejad–J.T. Miller
- Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–Jesper Fast
- Chris Kreider–David Desharnais–Mats Zuccarello
- Michael Grabner-Nieves-Pavel Buchnevich
The defensive pairings were:
Ondrej Pavelec will get the start as Henrik Lundqvist will be the backup.
Nash will be playing in his 1000th NHL hockey game.
Adam Cracknell was sent down to the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack yesterday.