The New York Rangers take to the road as they visit former Ranger Derick Brassard and the Ottawa Senators.
- New York Rangers (16-11-3, 35 points)
- Ottawa Senators (9-13-7, 25 points)
- Television: MSG Network
- Venue: Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Canada
The New York Rangers are set to battle with the Ottawa Senators tonight. The Rangers are coming off a 2-1 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars where they were outplayed and outshot 45-to-25. Ondrej Pavelec played his best game as a Ranger, making 44 saves in the loss. Rick Nash scored the lone goal for the Rangers, his eighth of the year. Michael Grabner leads the team in goals with 14 while Mats Zuccarello leading the team in points with 24. Pavel Buchnevich is tied with Mika Zibanejad with 22 points each.
It was announced on Tuesday that Zibanejad would not play in Ottawa and didn’t travel with the team to Canada. It will be his seventh game missed since sustaining a concussion. Zibanejad officially remains in the concussion protocol, though he has been skating at practice, without contact, with the team this week.
Zibanejad not making trip, will skate here, then prax on Thursday
— Steve Zipay (@stevezipay) December 12, 2017
The Ottawa Senators lost 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night despite scoring two goals in the third period. Forward Mark Stone leads the Senators in goals scored (14) and points (26). Defenseman Erick Karlsson leads the team in assists (18). Goalie Craig Andersson (7-10-3, 3.11 goals against average) has been struggling between the pipes this year. His save percentage is at .895 in 22 games played. Ottawa has been unsuccessful on the power play all season as they are currently ranked 27th in the National Hockey League at 16.03 percent. At home, the power play is a little worse at 15.78 percent.
Karlsson has been rumored to be on the trade block by the Senators over the last few days.
The public has spoken, and they're not happy with the Erik Karlsson trade rumour https://t.co/77kmNKEoGQ pic.twitter.com/44lFATNQoQ
— Ottawa Sun (@ottawasuncom) December 12, 2017
The Rangers defeated the Senators on Nov. 19, 3-0 at MSG. They have one more game against each other remaining after tonight, Feb.17 @ Ottawa at 2:00 p.m. ET.
